Mysterious Fates (A Harry Potter Crossover)
by theflowermaid
Summary: Subha Patel was not normal. Her parents died when she was a baby and with a famous godbrother, a godsister and a spoiled brat out to kill her, she couldn't hope to be. So during her years at Hogwarts, she tries to navigate her life while dealing with Harry's fame, her elemental powers, Fairy Tail, and upcoming war. But maybe some thing are better left unknown...for better or worse.
1. Disclaimer

**_All credits go to: J. (Harry Potter), CLAMP (Cardcaptor Sakura), Dreamworks (How To Train Your Dragon), Warner Bros (Scooby-Doo), Craig McCraken (Powerpuff Girls), Disney Channel (Suite Life) and Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail)._**

They are all amazing and creative people and I take no credit for the characters and/or certain settings of this story whatsoever.

Also, the chapters are going through some MAJOR editing so please forgive some of the inconsistencies.

I will put down the fandoms so you can keep track. If you know more than at least three, including HP, you're good to go! If not, I will try to make the plot and characters understandable so first timers to a certain fandom won't be scratching their heads. Here it is:

_-Harry Potter (obvious much XD)_  
><em>-Cardcaptor Sakura<em>  
><em>-Fairy Tail<em>  
><em>-Scooby-Doo (This fandom is relevant, I promise you; Daphne Blake and her family play a major part in Subha Patel's life)<em>  
><em>-How To Train Your Dragon<em>  
><em>-Powerpuff Girls (So is this one)<em>  
><em>-Suite Life (Read my separate AN's if you want to know why this fandom is included. But long story short, blame Tumblr.)_

But, nevertheless, I'm going to assume that almost everyone has read Harry Potter or at least watched the movies. I'm also assuming that you people know Scooby-Doo, Suite Life, How to Train Your Dragon or at least half of the fandoms mashed together in this story. Knowledge of the fandoms is not exactly necessary but it is recommended as I'm just using the characters and majority of the fandoms I'm using are supposed to take place after their respective series ends (with the exception of Suite Life. I made a small change to that plotline. Think of it as a AU for that fandom. Gi hi hi.).** _It is required that you have a good knowledge of Harry Potter though, since half of the story is going to take place at Hogwarts and all the fore mentioned places in the series._**

Also, I may switch POVs (not mid chapter, cause I'm lazy sometimes; though there'll be very few that do that) once in a while. Subha's backstory/past/family will be completely from most of my own imagination. I will try to stay in character for the characters in this story as much as _humanly_ possible, but one character may have to go a little bit OOC to fit a certain plot point.

And yes, I do recognize the fact that Subha being Harry's godsister is kind of a Mary-Sue trait. But I had this idea for a while and there's the fact that I have been working on this story for two years. So sue me. In fact, this is actually a rewrite and if I kept it up until this point, I think that there's legit no point in another rewrite just to change that one small detail. But hey, at least I didn't make Subha a carbon copy of Harry or more powerful than him. (I hope. XD) I will be making little bits of comparison and parallels between the pasts of Subha, Harry and Sakura Kinomoto because they are all interwoven in this fanfic.

**_I hope you enjoy!_**


	2. Prologue

**Prolouge**

_Japan, 1981_

Friday didn't seem like much with the sunny weather. As Nadeshiko Kinomoto, a young woman with grey hair and green eyes, got up and prepared breakfast for her family, everything was normal apart from the heavy heart that she had been carrying for a nearly a year now.

As her son waved goodbye as he rushed off to school and her husband drove to work, she went up to her baby daughter's room. Nadeshiko smiled as she saw Sakura cooing softly in her sleep, completely oblivious to the world surrounding her. She then went into her room, and took out a photo album. She turned it to a page that she had looked over numerous times. It was a picture of her fifteen year old self underneath a Cherry Blossom tree back in Britain. On her right was a girl her age with her black hair in a ponytail, whose color changing eyes shone a brilliant shade of emerald in happiness, one that she always recognized as Priya Patel. On her left was a red-head with even brighter green eyes. Lily Potter's face seemed to light up as her smile reminded Nadeshiko of the time when she used to visit Britain during the summers that they came back from Hogwarts.

A teardrop had appeared on the photo before Nadeshiko realized that she was starting to cry again. She closed the album and walked back downstairs to the living room. It had been a year since Lily, Priya and their husbands had died, and she felt as though glass shards pierced her heart. She knew that she had the ability to move on but only God knew what was going on in their children's lives. Harry Potter was living with Lily's less than pleasant sister Petunia, and Subha was under the care of Nan Blake and her family, one of Priya's muggle friends from childhood.

But the silence as well as her thoughts was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who's there?" Nadeshiko said as she went to the door. When no one answered she started to head back to cleaning the dining room. Before she could take a step however, she heard the knock again. This time, Nadeshiko became suspicious as an impending feeling of doom fell over her. She opened the door.

And...no one was there. However, Nadeshiko wasn't fooled. She stood her ground, and said calmly but in a dead serious tone, "I know you're still there. You might as well show yourself."

And at that moment, Nadeshiko saw the tip of a wand appear and the next thing she knew, she was blasted backwards in a blast of light. Groaning, she got up and to her horror, saw a familiar tall woman with thick dark hair standing at the doorway.

As Bellatrix Lestrange sauntered her way into the house, the first thought that popped into Nadeshiko's head was: _how the hell did she find Tomeda to begin with?!_

* * *

><p>"You...You are not human."<p>

Bellatrix smirked as she took a chair from the dining table with her wand. Staring at Nadeshiko with her cold brown ones, she sat on it with her legs on top of one another as though it was a throne and shrugged nonchalantly. "Who said I was, Kinomoto? You know me as well as the rest of the world does."

Nadeshiko glared at Bellatrix, who looked maniacal as ever. She clenched her fists in order not to punch her. She had to keep in control of her emotions if she was going to get herself and Sakura out of this alive.

"You killed my best friends." Nadeshiko's voice cracked in despair. "You took _everything_ away from me..."

"Their deaths weren't my fault to begin with," Bellatrix said as she waltzed up to Nadeshiko, her thin lips stretched into a victorious smile. "This is what you get for interfering with the Dark Lord's plan. It may be easier to get rid of you first and then head for the rest of your-"

"No!" Nadeshiko was shaking, her green eyes glittering with fury like she never felt before. _"You are not touching my family!"_

"Oh really? So, you honestly think that I won't go near your mudblood daughter once I'm done with you?" Bellatrix cackled. "You obviously don't know what I'm capable of."

Nadeshiko's eyes widened when the word _mudblood_ entered her ears. She released her fists, finally having enough. All of the rage that showed itself through her eyes had calmed down into a calm fury. Nobody, whether good or evil, can call Sakura a mudblood and get away with it. She didn't care about the fact that she couldn't defend herself against a wizard, especially a dark wizard for that matter. She didn't care about the fact that the efforts that Lily and Priya went through to protect her from the war had gone to waste. Nadeshiko raised her right hand and with full force, brought it across Bellatrix's face. Tears starting to race down Nadeshiko's face as Bellatrix fell down onto the ground panting heavily.

"You will pay dearly, Kinomoto..." Bellatrix said murderously. She raised her wand at Nadeshiko, who tried to back away but it was too late. _"Crucio!"_

The pain was unbearable. Every single vein in her body was electrified to maximum level as Nadeshiko's body twitched unnaturally. Her grey hair flew up in the air, the nerve cells in her brain lighting up...and not in a good way. Bellatrix levitated her in the air as she screamed. Just as she was about to give up, someone behind her Stunned Bellatrix; Nadeshiko fell hard onto the floor in the process.

"Oh my good lord..." the person who saved her trailed off, nearly crying. Despite Nadeshiko's losing consciousness's, she still noticed the person's figure. She wore familiar emerald-green robes and glasses. Her black hair was tied back into a tight bun with a pointed hat which was cocked to one side. "Eriol, Albus, we have a big problem."

"Minerva-san..." Nadeshiko struggled to say, but it came out like a whisper. Then everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Hope you enjoyed that! :D_**

**_For Cardcaptor Sakura fans out there: Come on! I had to make Nadeshiko a little badass. To be fair though, even the most kindest people have their limits so it makes sense that she reacted the way she did during this situation.__ I don't think that she would be a wuss. __She is a mother, __after__ all._**

**_And in addition, who the fucking hell wouldn't be scared and furious with Bellatrix? That woman has literally no conscience._**


	3. The Beginning of a Beginning

**_A/N: If anyone missed that one of the fandoms in this fanfic is Scooby-Doo, then I highly suggest you look up the reboot, "Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated." That's mainly because I 'm only using Daphne Blake and her family from that show alone for this story._**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Beginning<strong>

_10 Years Later, Blake Manor_

Eight o'clock. For me, that's when anything life changing happened to me, whether it was good or bad. An example of that was when I found out that I got accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and, Sakura and Ginny and I were screaming at the top of our lungs on the phone when I told them about my letter.

First off, my name's Subha Patel. I happen to be a witch. Well, so are my best friends but you get the point.

According to everyone around me, my eyes tend to change color according to either my mood or the people I'm around with most of the time. I also have long wavy black hair that is long, especially for an eleven year old and it is _annoying_ trying to not get it frizzy before I go to sleep. I swear, the next time someone says that they want my hair, I will severely cut them. I should probably also mention that I have the ability to control the six elements: Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, Ice and finally, Lightning.

"Oh my god!" said Ginny. "Subha, Read the letter!"

"Gin, I have already read the thing like three times!" I said.

"Subha, please read it again," pleaded Sakura Kinomoto, who was on the other line of the phone call.

"Oh, for the love of god..." I muttered. "Alright, here it is:

_Dear Ms. Subha Patel,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all the necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than 31st July._

"Happy?"

"YES!" screamed Ginny. The freckle-faced girl with hair the color of ginger pulled me into a bear hug. "By the way, you wouldn't saying hi to Harry for me, would you?"

I rolled my eyes. How I meet my best friends, especially Ginny Weasley for that matter, was more or less random. I've known them since I was eight, they are crazy but they have given me the best times of my life.

I gave Ginny the best poker face I could muster up. "Gin, just because Harry's my godbrother does not mean that-"

"Pleassseeeeee?"

I sighed. "After Nan and Daphne told me about Harry and Sakura being my godsiblings, do you think that I'll able to be able to talk to Harry like its normal?"

"Well, weren't you and Sakura the ones who found him with his aunt and uncle at the zoo two weeks ago, pulled him aside and told him about you the three of you are related?"

"Ginny, you were there. We didn't tell him everything. All we told him was simply told him that our dead mothers were friends, his mum was my godmother and that Nadeshiko was his. My letter from hers specifically told us to not tell him about him being a wizard as his Aunt Petunia would not take too kindly that he even knows about us to begin with."

"But...aren't you two in touch?"

I snorted. "Please. The Dursleys treat him like utter crap. He barely managed to sent me a letter two weeks ago, and things are not looking too good for him right now due to the snake incident at the zoo."

"Anyway," said Ginny, suddenly sitting up straight on the bed. She put her finger on my head. "You got all your supplies?"

"Yes, mum," I said sarcastically as I sat up on the bed too. "Gin, you and your mum are the ones who helped me buy them!"

"And your uniform?" asked Sakura.

"Really Sakura," I groaned, _"Eu tu?"_

Ginny and Sakura roared with laughter.

"Ginny, you're becoming just like your mum by the minute," I said with my eyebrow raised. "Speaking of which, Sakura, you and your family didn't have to get me an owl..." I glanced to a magnificent barn owl that I named Zeus (yes, I named him after the Greek God, deal with it), which was perched on a bar in his cage with his head under his wing. "I mean, I could have-"

"Oh, be quiet, will you?" said Sakura sternly. "I wanted to get you something for your birthday. I used nearly all of my allowance on this while I was in Diagon Alley with you two."

"And plus," added Ginny, "the owl is going to be pretty damn useful when you get to Hogwarts. They can carry parcels and letters-"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts," said Sakura. "You are our best friend and if we want to get you something, we're going to, even if you say no. Plus, you did some pretty awesome stuff for our birthdays anyway."

I was blushing like mad right now. For once in a rare moment, I'm actually speechless.

Ginny sighed as she put her elbows on her knees. "I wish I could go with you."

"Come on, you'll be starting next year!" I blurted out. "And I'll be writing to you and Sakura every week!"

"I know. But still..."

I scrutinized Ginny as I tried to figure out her words. That's when it clicked in my head.

"Ginny, you fancy Harry, don't you?" Sakura asked slyly, voicing my thoughts.

Now it was Ginny's turn to blush. "Wh-what? No, that's not what I-"

"Relax Gin," I said, laughing, "I can see it in your eyes." I put my elbows on the mattress with the phone in my right hand, my eyes boring into hers. "Since when?"

"For a while..." trailed off Ginny. Her face grew red as she fiddled with her fingers.

I raised my eyebrows at her. _Well, no wonder she was shocked when we found out that Harry was my brother, the girl had a freaking crush on him._

"Hey guys," interrupted Sakura, "I just realized. If Subha is going to Hogwarts, what the hell are we going to do about Morbucks?"

That snapped us out of our dream world. We looked at each other in full swing panic. Then after a few minutes of thinking, Ginny said, "I'm going to have to deal with her in the meantime. I mean, I have the Girls to help me..."

"No way, I'm coming back during Christmas break, right?" I said determinedly. "Look, I'm not letting you deal with her alone, Ginny. Besides, even you know that they are starting Hogwarts too this year."

She threw up her hands. "Why do all of my friends have to be older than me?" she said as she fell on her back. She pouted. "Oh, I'm going to be so lonely..."

I started laughing again. "Ginny, I bet next year will more exciting than this year because-"

"Oh, please stop, I was kidding you," Ginny sighed, her face suddenly straight. "I'm just going to have to wait till next year. And Subha, considering Harry's relatives, I think you need to stay at Hogwarts this year. Don't start worrying about me."

Well, that's Ginny for you. She's smart, confident and independent but damn, that girl blushes way too easily. And about our Morbucks problem...let me just say that Princess Morbucks is the American version of a spoiled brat. No, seriously, I'm not joking. She's worse than that Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And let's face it, that's really something more of an accomplishment, because it's almost impossible to be worse than Veruca Salt.

We're good friends with Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, who called themselves the Powerpuff Girls (yes, those exact same girls who are starting Hogwarts) ever since we helped them out in a sticky situation involving Morbucks when they were visiting an uncle of theirs in London. Unfortunately, ever since then, Morbucks been attacking us for with a clear thirst for revenge without a resolve.

_Sheesh, you would have thought that she would have given up after two years._

"By the way," I started saying as I tried maneuvering the way out of the Morbucks problem, "how many Clow Cards this week?"

"Three," said Sakura. "What do you think Kero meant by saying that I am going to become the master of the Clow Cards?"

"You just captured three cards this week, what the hell do you mean by you're not sure what Kero meant?!" Ginny said indignantly.

Speaking of which, Sakura was bit of a different story. Apparently, a year ago when she was back home in Japan after school one day, she discovered a winged bear-looking plush toy-like figure coming out of a book, who straight out told her that she had to capture magic cards that were called Clow Cards before they befell a catastrophic event. At least that's how she put it. Now it looks like she's balancing school and catching rouge magic cards all the while not even blinking an eye.

While those two argued I just sat there and thought about what life at Hogwarts would really be like.

Little did I know though, was that I was in for a huge surprise.


	4. Unexpected Surprises

**Chapter 2: Unexpected Surprises**

We were at King's Cross station trying to enter Platform nine-and-three-quarters when I saw Harry. But before I could talk to him, Mrs. Weasley got me running into the wall that lead into Platform nine-and-three-quarters because it was almost late. After the luggage and Zeus was loaded into the train, I said bye to Ginny and Sakura (Who came to see me off) promised to write, and got on the train. As the train got moving, I was looking for a compartment when I got the biggest shock of my life. In the compartment I was looking into, were two familiar short hair blond and hazel eyed boys sitting opposite of each other.

"ZACK?!" I shouted, "CODY?!"

"SUBHA?!" they stood up and shouted back. "What in the world are you doing here!?"

_Wow. Seriously? Zack and Cody can be total idiots._

Long story short,Zack and Cody Martin were my best friends long before I met Ginny and Sakura. Preschool long, that is, which in my case, meant that I had know the twins for nearly my entire life. They moved away from England due to their parent's divorce and we hadn't had any contact since. _But now..._

I raised my eyebrows at them. "Um, aren't I supposed to be asking that question?! And if you guys are supposed to be wizards, remember who gave you an element to control in addition to your own magic!"

The twins turned silent and sat down again. Well, it was true. When we were young, I gave Zack an element to control, which was air and I gave Cody the element of ice. I did the same to Ginny, who I gave water and fire as a birthday present to; Sakura's was air as well and Ron's was the same as Cody's. I slid into the compartment and sat opposite of Zack.

"Why didn't you write?" I asked them in a constricted voice, glaring pointedly at Zack, who slunk slightly in his seat.

"Well, you never exactly wrote to us either!" said Cody. "But even then, for Zack, I got pretty much no excuse."

"Hey, that's not fair!" cried out Zack.

"You didn't even try Zack, what am I supposed to do about that?! I, on the other hand, at least tried to make an effort to keep in touch with our best friend!"

I glared at Cody, my eyes narrowing into slits. While I had to admit that he had a point, my mind still refused to accept the fact that I never made a single attempt in contacting them. Years' worth of anger and frustration was starting to flow out of me. "Three years," I said slowly and fiercely, "How the hell can you get that busy in three years?! Do you have any idea how upset I was?!"

"Actually, I did," said Zack, his hazel eyes now glaring at me. "I just didn't know what to write to you because you-"

He stopped himself, turning a slight shade of red. My heart started beating three times faster. I felt like I was going to explode but at the same time, it was comforting as well. I calmed down, the anger and the adrenaline leaving me faster than the speed of light.

"I missed you guys," I said as I tried not to cry, "so much. Even after meeting Ginny and Sakura, I still thought of you." I looked at Zack again. "I-I couldn't get you out of my head."

"Um...I...you-" Zack started saying. But I cut across him.

"Look, I'm sorry I got angry," I said as I wiped my eyes and stood up, "but I'm really, really happy to see you two. I'll be back; I need to find my brother."

"Your brother?" they asked in unison. Looking at their faces, they were totally astonished. _Haha, serves them right...then again, I'm not exactly __on the victim side of the spectrum._

"Yeah, you missed quite a bit since you left London," I said as I cracked a smile and opened the door. "I'll be right back."

"You missed a lot too!"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I closed the door behind me, leaned slightly and bit my lip as I thought, "It's good to have them back again." I smiled and started looking for Harry.

* * *

><p>Two minutes later, and I still had still no luck. Where the heck was he? I was walking so fast, I bumped into a girl who seems to have already changed into her Hogwarts uniform. She had familiar brown bushy hair that went all over the place and had bucktoothed teeth.<p>

"Ow," said the girl.

"Sorry," I said hastily. I started walking around her. I wasn't even two feet away when the girl called me back.

"Oh, excuse me?" said the bushy haired girl, "Can you tell me if you have seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost one."

I stopped walking and turned around. I swore I had seen her before. _But where? Never mind that, who would have a toad for a pet?_

"No, can't say I have." I scrunched my eyebrows in puzzlement. "What's your name?"

"Hermione Granger," said the girl proudly. "And you?"

"Subha Patel."

"Nice to meet you. You look a lot like Harry Potter, you know that?"

"Really?" I asked, genuinely surprised. "Have you seen him?"

Hermione nodded. "He's five compartments down." She pointed in my direction. "You better get changed into your robes soon. We are almost there you know."

"Oh, thanks! And see you at Hogwarts...Hermione."

Hermione smiled. "You too...Subha," she added and walked away in the other direction.

I found him a few minutes later, down five compartments like Hermione said.

"Hey Harry," I said as I sat beside him. Harry was somewhat in surprise.

"You're going too?" he asked me.

"Of course," I answered casually as I shrugged, "Besides, I've known about it since I was eight."

"You're joking," said Harry as he started to gape at me like a fish, "You could said something in one of your letters! And where's Sakura?"

I laughed nervously as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "Yeah...sorry about that. But Harry, even you know you wouldn't have believed me back then anyway."

I closed his hanging mouth as I added, "And Sakura is a bit of a different matter."

Harry sighed as I glanced over to who was sitting across from him. My eyes immediately widened as I took a double take on the person who was sitting across from him. It was an eleven year old boy...with the same bright red hair as Ginny's. He had his hand on his forehead, like he's shocked that I know Harry. (Trust me; I got that look from Ginny once the first time I mentioned it.)

_"Ron?"_

"Really, Subha?" said Ron, throwing up his left arm, "I have been sitting here the whole bloody time!"

_Oh great. Please, somebody kill me and get it over with. I'd rather be sent to the headmaster's office than deal with this._

"I swear, if I end up in one of the four houses with you-"

"Even I know you wouldn't leave, Twit."

I bit back a comment. Dammit, he nailed me. These are one of the few times when I just admit to the fact that Ron's not a complete idiot.

"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, me and Knucklehead here both hate each other. I'm best friends with his younger sister."

"Same to you, Twit," said Ron.

"Um...may I know what happened, exactly?" asked Harry slowly.

"A blind date we never wanted-" grumbled Ron, glaring hatefully at me.

"-and a one week relationship that shouldn't have happened," I finished, as I returned the look.

And quite honestly, that's the only thing that we have ever agreed on. Me and Ron had had a bit of a complicated relationship. We actually used to get along really well until that stupid blind date. Ever since, we often communicated with each other is by using sarcastic Romeo and Juliet references. I would tell any random wizard who was watching to not dwell on it much because that tidbit started off with London Tipton, Tomoyo Daibouji and a very strong attempt from Sakura and Ginny to not make us read it together. But as crazy as it is, Ron, in general, is not a bad person and we actually did a few favors for each other. For example, I do help him prank Fred and George every once in a while.

Harry didn't press for any more information. He just looked at us back and forth in amusement as I joined in, took a chocolate frog and a pumpkin tart from their cart and started eating as I stared out at the darkening countryside.

"So how do you and Harry know each-"

"He's my godbrother, you twit," I said, exasperated. The both of us started having a staring contest, which I obviously won.

We were silent for a minute and a half when I remembered that I have a letter to give to Harry. Oh crap. I took Nadeshiko's letter out of my pocket.

"Here," I said, giving him the letter as Harry gave me a confused glance.

"It's a letter from Sakura's mother," I explained patiently.

"But I thought-"

"Just read it when we get settled in," I cut in a little too harshly. Nadeshiko may not have been my mother, but considering that my mum was best friends with her and also the fact that the only time I saw her when I was three, I found it a little hard to talk about her. Looking at Harry's hurt expression, I sighed and added gently, "I'm sorry, just read it when we get there."

Harry nodded. I stood up and walked to the compartment door. Just before closing it, I told them that we are nearing soon.

"You just reminded me of that Granger girl," said Ron. "I have a feeling that she's going to drive us crazy for the next few years."

"Who, Hermione?" I asked as I sat back down.

Ron nodded. "I see you have met her."

The way he said it, it sounded like he hated her already.

I scoffed. "For your completely deranged brain's information, she's actually really nice!"

"Yeah, coming from a lunatic!"

_Did he just call me a lunatic? Oh, it was on._

"Hmm. I don't see Romeo here riding off into the sunset."

Ron looked puzzled for a second and then smiled wickedly. "Aww, is poor little Juliet jealous?"

"No, but I am wondering if Romeo here is truly willing to take poison for the girl who's going to um, drive you crazy?" I retorted mockingly.

"Yeah, well I don't see you-"

"Are you guys going to be fighting like this for the rest of the year?" Harry interrupted with his head in his hands.

I wished I could say yes. Ron's expression said pretty much the same thing. But nevertheless, we both made a silent agreement that we would keep the fighting to a minimum for the next few years.

But quite frankly, that's easier said than done.


	5. The Four Houses

**Chapter 3: The Four Houses**

The train reached Hogwarts within an hour, just like Hermione mentioned. I had changed into my robes fifteen minutes before we got there. After we got of the trains, I met up with Zack and Cody, who were not quite so happy that I didn't come back.

"Tee hee, sorry guys!" I said as I paled.

Cody rolled his eyes. Before I could say anything more, a big sized human (I hope that was an appropriate description as I mean that quite literally) came towards us.

"First years to the boats!" He cried out.

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" cried out Zack. "You're Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts!"

I gave Zack a confused look.

"Turns out that Zack and I are half-bloods," explained Cody while I just looked even more puzzled. "Dad's a half blood too, mom's a muggle. Surely that Ginny girl you mentioned told you about wiz-"

"Oh, she told me!" I barked. "I'm just sort of..." I trailed off.

Granted, Harry told me about Hagrid on the train, (I nearly snorted orange juice when he told me about Dudley Dursley's pig tail) and I know I should have been prepared but...wow.

"First years to the boats!" Hagrid called again.

We all followed him. All of a sudden, another boy came up to the three of us, walking right beside me. He was cute but in an arrogant sort of way. He was also pale in general and his hair was combed all the way back to the point where you could see his large forehead.

"Hello," said the boy. "I haven't seen you around before."

"Huh," I said neutrally, "I don't remember meeting you in the first place. So how could you have seen me?"

Cody snickered. Meanwhile, Zack looked somewhat irritated, all the while slightly fuming beside Cody. Hmm...wonder what got his pants in a twist.

"So...what house do you want to be in?" the guy droned on. "Name's Draco Malfoy, by the way."

That's when it clicked. This guy was part of the Malfoy family, one of the few pureblood families in the wizarding world.

As soon as he said that, Cody and Zack started pulling me away from him.

"Oh, and I can guess you two," Malfoy continued before we could walk away, "Blond hair, same face, same father...you are the Martin twins. Your family's called one of the most intellectual half-bloods the world's ever seen. If you ask me, I think that they are just a bunch of misfits."

Zack looked just about ready to punch him. Cody gripped my hand tighter and said, "Well unlike our family, what's your family called as? Because as I distinctly remember, 'The World's Biggest Gits certainly wasn't on the list."

Malfoy's face contorted into a furious look. "Well, I really don't want you near me anyway, I don't want your...um...weakness affected on me."

"Alright, that's it," said Zack angrily as he raised his fist, "I'll show you how weak I really am!"

_Crap. This escalated quickly enough._

"No!" I cried out, squirming out of Cody's grip and held back Zack. "Zack, he's not worth getting in trouble for. Please, listen to me!"

Zack looked at me, his face slowly softened. He lowered his hand. In the meantime, I threw Malfoy a distasteful look and quickly lead the two away.

Zack turned on me. "Why did you-"

"I had to!" I retorted. "Trust me Zack, you really don't want to spend your first week at Hogwarts in detention!"

Zack started to protest but I glared at him and he closed his mouth immediately. Seriously, what had gotten into him? He was never one to get angry so easily. I could sense a tiny bit of change in the both of them. But he couldn't have changed that much...right?

After what seemed like a long period of silence, we finally reached the boats.

The twins and I got in a boat and waited for instructions.

"Alright, now follow me!" said Hagrid, and we all rowed our boats.

We all rowed until we came across a huge castle. I gasped at the beautiful sight and I wasn't the only one. I looked around and I saw the other first years' expressions were pretty much the same thing.

We were here. Hogwarts...it's really here.

"Dad was right," Cody said in awe, "it's really amazing."

I couldn't agree more.

* * *

><p>We entered through the doors that lead to the Great Hall. This was after Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, gave us the basic rules of Hogwarts and briefly explained the Houses and their rules. Then a frog appeared and a boy named Neville Longbottom came running forward crying out "Trevor!"<p>

After that, we headed to the Great Hall. Wow. It was even grander up close. Behind me, Hermione Granger was telling to those who would listen about the ceiling and how it was enchanted to make it look like the sky.

"I say that she's still a lunatic," said Ron, who suddenly appeared on Cody's right with Harry.

"Oh beat it, Knucklehead," I said to him.

"Um, who are you?" asked Zack.

"Ron Weasley," Ron answered. "And you? Wait, don't tell me. You're the two blokes from one of the Twit's pictures. Zack and Cody Martin. Never knew you guys were wizards."

"Neither did we, until our dad told us that he was one. Our mom's a muggle, so we're half-bloods," said Cody. "To be honest, I think that's why they divorced. And why dad's on the road majority of the time."

"Cody, you can't jump to-"

"I know Subha, I'm not jumping to conclusions. All I'm saying is that it could have been a contributing factor."

"And how long have you known this guy?" Zack pointed to Ron.

"I've been best friends with his sister since I was eight. She's a year younger, but she skipped a grade at Hyland. I crashed into here while Mary was showing her around school."

"And my life hasn't been peaceful ever since," said Ron, dragging his hands down his face.

I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows at him. "Who said we were going to make life easy for you, Knucklehead?"

Harry snickered and turned to Ron. "I think I met your sister once. What was-"

"Ginny Weasley," answered Ron.

Harry looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. Wide eyed, Harry turned to face the front as he simply mouthed, "wow."

A minute later, we all reached a slightly raised platform which had a stool with a very old witch's hat sitting on top of it. Professor McGonagall went up to the stool and unrolled a long piece of paper, took the hat of the stool and started calling out names.

"That's the Sorting Hat, isn't it?" I asked Cody.

He nodded. "Dad told us that we get sorted into one of the four houses by that hat."

"Susan Bones!" said McGonagall. A girl with pigtails walked to the stool and sat on it as McGonagall placed the hat on her head. As I looked closer, I realized the hat had a mouth and a pair of eyes. _So this is what Fred, George and Ginny meant when they said that we were going to be sorted by a hat._ When I glanced around, it's no wonder that Ginny was longing to come here, even though she'll be coming here next year. If the Great Hall alone is spectacular, what would the rest of the castle look like?

"Hufflepuff!" the hat cried out. Susan Bones went to a group of cheering students on the right side of the Hall.

McGonagall kept calling names as the Sorting Hat sorted them by their apparent talents and motives. Zack, Cody and Hermione got sorted into Gryffindor, while Draco Malfoy got sorted into Slytherin. Before I knew it, McGonagall said, "Subha Patel!"

_Oh god. I think my heart just stopped._

I nervously walked up to the stool and sat down as the hat was placed on my head.

"Hmm...where to put you?" whispered the Sorting Hat. "Well, you've obviously got talent and you're damn aware of it. And you're powerful, oh yes. There's even more untapped power in you but you don't seem to recognize it. However, you also have a great deal of a need to prove yourself and determination to carve your own path..."

I sat there while I silently prayed to be put in any house other than Slytherin. I was not looking forward woith deal with Malfoy during my seven years here. I looked around and as my eyes landed at the teacher's table, I saw Albus Dumbledore and a man with a hooked nose and whose hair was black and oily, eying me curiously. My thoughts were interrupted when the Sorting Hat cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I sighed in relief as I went over to the cheering Gryffindor table. I immediately sat beside Zack and Cody. "Oh thank god," said Cody, "for a second, I thought the hat was going to put you in Ravenclaw or Slytherin!"

I smacked him on his head and looked anxiously at the stage as "Parvati Patil" also got sorted into Gryffindor.

A few names later, McGonagall called out: "Harry Potter!"

My eyes widened even more as Harry went up to the stool. I could feel the tension rising for some reason. The Hat took the longest time trying to decide where to put Harry, even longer than me for that matter. Two minutes later, the Hat shouted, _"Gryffindor!"_

To say the least, the Gryffindor Table's cheers were louder for Harry than for anybody else. I cheered also with them as Ginny's older twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley kept chanting, "We got Potter, we got Potter!"

After Ron got sorted into Gryffindor and the rest of the remaining students, Professor Dumbledore stood up to say a few words, mainly warning us to stay away from the third floor corridor. And then he said, "Let us begin."

I looked down at the table, once empty with the exception of the plates and utensils, was full of every single type of food I could eat. I took a bit of steak and a bit of everything else. Dang, there was more food here than at the Blake mansion.

I ate as I chatted up with Harry, who was sitting opposite of me, and Hermione and Percy, discussing about the types of classes we're going to have the next day. That was when the Gryffindor ghost, "Nearly Headless Nick", showed up and ended up grossing about half of the first years off when Hermione asked how he can be "nearly headless." Cody and Zack were being their usual selves by arguing half the time, but they happened to get along with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas very well.

By the time we finished, we were all stuffed. Professor Dumbledore dismissed us to our common rooms. Percy Weasley and another girl prefect lead us to the Gryffindor common room, which had a portrait for a door. Also known as...The Fat Lady.

_"Fortuna Major,"_ said Percy.

"Very well," said the Lady, and let us in.

The common room felt very cozy on first sight. We all went up to our rooms to find our luggage and pets already there. I went up to Zeus' cage and let him nibble my finger.

"Hey Zeus," I said affectionately, "'Ya miss me?"

"This is so much better than going to middle school," said Blossom.

"Yup. I feel like this is going to be an interesting year," said Buttercup.

"I'm just glad that the Professor let us come here in the first place," said Bubbles. "Along with Mojo and HIM promising to protect Townsville until summer break for the next seven years."

"Yeah, it's a huge weight taken off our backs for the year," agreed Blossom. "And besides, even they admitted that it wouldn't be half as fun trying to take over Townsville without us kicking their butts."

I laughed. "You know, even if they're villains, I'll be the first to admit that they have slightly grown on me."

Bubbles shrugged. "Eh. Mojo's not so bad when you look at his situation closely. Every once in a while, he's actually been a pretty nice monkey."

Well, even I couldn't argue with that. The Girls have known Mojo Jojo longer than me, Ginny and Sakura have so I just had to take Bubbles' word for it. I sighed as I looked around and changed into my pajamas.

"It kinda already feels like home, doesn't it?" asked Hermione wistfully as she was in bed, reading Hogwarts: A History. "Even though we have been here only for a couple of hours?"

I looked at her as I got into bed. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, it does. Well, night Hermione."

"You too Subha."

As I snuggled in bed, I thought about what Hermione asked. And as I thought about dinner a few hours ago, my answer felt more real than it could have been.

Hogwarts. I was in a place where I feel like I could be myself.

It really did feel like home.


	6. Eriol's Warning

Chapter 4: Eriol's Warning

_4 Years later_

I woke up to my alarm clock. I pulled my head up and lo and behold, it was 6:00 am. Ugh, I was so tired. Maybe it wasn't exactly a good idea staying up late writing letters to everyone I knew. But my phone started ringing anyway.

"Hello?" I said groggily.

"Subha, Zack, Sakura, Bailey, Shaoran, Meiling, wake up!" Cody's voice rang out. "You do realize what today is, right?!"

"Dude, how the heck should we know?" asked a sleepy and irritated Zack.

I sighed. "Cody, if you want to wake-" I stopped myself as I glanced at the calendar. I bolted upright in my bed, suddenly wide awake. "Holy shit!" I shrieked, "How much time do we have?!"

"Um, like two hours!" Cody cried out.

"Subha-chan, what are you-" Sakura started saying in a sleepy voice. Her short honey brown hair was in shambles but as soon as she glanced over at the calendar, she sat up faster than a mouse, wide awake. "WHAT THE...?!" she screamed. "Cody, _arigato!_"

She shut off her phone and bolted from her bed to the bathroom. As if on cue, Tomoyo Daidouji came into our bedroom, screaming, "Sakura, Subha, are you two alright?!"

I looked at Tomoyo, who was standing there, with her blue hair up in a ponytail, geared and ready to go while the rest of us were frizzy haired and in bed.

"What are you guys-" Zack started to ask but got interrupted.

"THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP, YOU IDIOTS!" me and Cody yelled.

"SAY WHAT?!" the voices of Bailey Pickett and Meiling Li screamed.

"That's today?!" Zack said loudly. "Crap, I totally forgot!"

"Martin, you could have woken us up earlier, dammit!" Shaoran Li said angrily.

"Well, I'm sorry Shaoran," Cody apologized sarcastically, "but um, you see, my mind just thought that you snoring idiots _were already awake!"_

"Cody, calm down. It's just a game."

"Just a game? _Just a game?!_"

Sakura and I looked at each other and smacked our heads. _Oh no, here he goes again._

"Shaoran..." Sakura sighed in resignation, "...you just set off a ticking time bomb."

While Cody ranted about how Quidditch isn't just a game (mind you, he's a fanatic about it just like me and Zack are), I hung up immediately and quickly got out of bed. God, I could hear Cody yelling all the way from here, even without the phone. I took a five minute shower, put on some clothes, packed the usual items into my backpack, including my wand, and raced out of the bedroom.

Dammit Subha, you've really done it this time. See, this is what I got for sleeping till eight every morning. Honestly, you'd think that I would have changed my sleeping habits by now.

"Oh my..." Tomoyo trailed off as I ran past her like a bullet. She came running with me. "Subha, you're going to get hurt."

I stopped running and glanced at her worried expression and my heart melted a bit. "Tomoyo, just run on ahead. I'll meet up with you downstairs. I don't want to get you hurt, 'kay?"

_"Hai,"_ she said with a wide smile, "I'll tell Sakura." I watched her skip down the steps with a smile.

_Oh Tomoyo. _Seriously, I had only known her for about five years or so and she's the exact same age as us but her soft spoken personality and her slight obsession with getting Sakura on video, makes her seem like an eight year old. Okay...I can't say she's changed that much since the day Sakura introduced us to each other but to be fairly honest, it's not like it's an issue. Take Harry for example. She's like a little sister to him.

After she went, I thought about Harry and I wondered what he was doing at the Burrow. At this time, everyone will be awake getting ready for the World Cup but I'll bet that he and the Knucklehead are sound asleep. I snickered at the thought. _Wait till Hermione gives them a wake up call. _(Well, she did say that she was going to smack the two awake if they overslept.)

Either way, it had been four years since the sorting. Zack and Cody have been staying in Britain alternating summers because their mum does not want to fly all the way here every single summer, as she can't exactly afford that much. I have stayed with them from the middle of July till September every alternating summer, with the exception of the summer after my second year where my mum's side of the family came to visit for the first time in years. I met many of my cousins that year, and two of them are actually starting their second and third year at Hogwarts, respectively.

Harry has kept in touch with me and Sakura frequently over break now thanks to Hedwig and Zeus. Zack and Cody's dad had a small mansion that was close to The Burrow, meaning that I saw Ginny anytime I could. And the biggest part of my life right now, was that no one in the Wizarding world, with the exception of the Weasleys, Zack, Cody, Hermione and Bailey Pickett (she's in Ravenclaw, by the way) absolutely no one knew that the famous Harry Potter has two godsisters, and I wanted it to stay that way for as long as possible...even though Remus Lupin, our former Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher from last year (and one of our better ones, to be honest) already knew. Considering that he knew our parents, it wasn't that much of a surprise. He told me once that that I have my mum's slight sarcastic personality, and that my eye color always turn the exact shade of green as Lily's whenever I'm near Harry. When I asked Ginny, Hermione, Zack, Cody and Ron, they all literally answered, in unison: "_Without a doubt._"

Well then. Anyhoo, here I am, sprinting to the dining room for breakfast before we leave for the Quidditch World Cup. With Mr Martin working at the Ministry of Magic, he got tickets to see the World Cup and had a few extras, so he gave me, Zack and Cody tickets so that we could invite a few people. I invited Sakura, Shaoran Li (long story, but he's Sakura's boyfriend), and Tomoyo Daidouji. Cody used his to invite his crush, Bailey Pickett. Zack used his to invite Shaoran's cousin, Meiling Li. Neither me or Shaoran knew why but Meiling was happy enough to be coming along anyway.

The Weasleys got tickets too, due to Mr. Weasley working at the Ministry of Magic as well. We were all meeting Ginny and her family, Harry and Hermione, Cedric Diggory and his father Amos at the event, which didn't start until that night. But we had to leave in two hours because we had to take a Portkey there and those things are sorta hard to find, and they also leave with or without the passengers at the designated time.

And to tell you the truth, this felt so normal, that it didn't even faze me at that point.

And so I started running again. But as I nearly got to the steps, I didn't see where I was going, happened to crash into Zack, who was also rushing to the dining room, and I landed right on top of him as a result.

I pulled my head up and realized that Zack's arms were around my hip as he started apologizing, "Jesus. Subha, I'm so..."

He stopped speaking for some reason.

"So...what?"

"So...so..."

But it wasn't even his sudden stammering that caught me off guard. It was the fact that my heart went _thump-thump-thump_ every twenty seconds. Well, that, and my lips were just inches away from his. And the fact that my hands were flat out on his chest. "...Zack, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I...I completely forgot what I was going to say." He laughed nervously.

"No you didn't, idiot. And..."

"Your eyes...just...are they really that blue..." That last word turned into a whisper as he tightened his grip on my waist and pushed a strand of hair from my face as I started to lean towards him. I couldn't think of a single reason why I let him but I could feel a certain pull and warmth coming from his touch that made me feel nervous and willing at the same time. Two seconds later, I was actually kissing him. _Oh god, I was actually kissing him, of all people. _It was surprisingly soft and dare I say it, nice. I don't know how long we were in that position but I didn't really care.

That is...until Cody suddenly hollered from the dining room.

"Zack, Subha! What the heck is taking you guys so long? Everybody else is here!"

I quickly opened my eyes and suddenly came back to my senses as I realized that Cody would never let us hear the end of our current predicament if he saw us.

"We're coming in a minute!" I yelled.

We quickly got off each other and I helped Zack up to his feet. I put my hands behind my back and cleared my throat. "So...sh-shall we go?"

Zack looked the opposite way, turning beetroot red. "Ye-yeah. Right. Let's go!"

But neither of us budged. Zack glanced at me and started to say something but right then, Cody screamed, "_SUBHA JODHA PATEL AND ZACHARY MARTIN, GET YOUR SLEEPY BRAINS OVER HERE NOW!"_

I let out a yelp.

"Oh-kay, now he's mad," said Zack.

_Shit. We were definitely screwed._ I glanced at him. "Run for it?"

"Oh hell yeah."

We dashed down the steps in opposite directions.

* * *

><p>"Dad, how long is this going to take?"<p>

"We got a few more feet to go Zack, so just hold on, okay?" said Kurt Martin.

"Zack, it's only been five minutes," said Shaoran. The brown haired cutie that was my sister's boyfriend did a very good job of making a poker face at his antics. "How the hell are you whining?"

"Shaoran, that's just the lazy part of Zack talking, so don't bother with it," I grumbled.

"Is it me, or is everybody a little cranky right now?" Bailey asked warily.

I scoffed. "Well, you can thank Cody here for being cranky this morning."

"Yeah, amen to that," agreed Meiling. She was tying up her jet black hair as she sighed in exhaustion. "I nearly went deaf the way everybody was screaming at each other two hours ago."

"You were screaming too, Meiling," said Shaoran, who was still holding the poker face expression with amazing ability.

"And your point?"

"She does have a point though," I said in Meiling's defense, "because I think my voice went wayward too afterwards."

"God damn...I have never seen Cody that mad..." said Sakura, who was clutching Shaoran's hand for some balance. Looking kind of pale, it looks like she wasn't exactly left off the hook either when it was her turn to be scolded by Cody.

"Nor have I seen Zack and Subha blush that hard before," Tomoyo said inquisitively.

"Well, with the exception of Tomoyo, every single one of you overslept!" Cody cried out indignantly. Then his eyes widened as he realized what Tomoyo had just said. He turned his face around to face her. "Wait, what?"

Tomoyo's expression changed. She looked away and pretended to have not said anything.

I stole a quick glance at Zack...only to see that he was doing the same. I quickly turned my head in the opposite direction as my face got hot.

Bailey and Sakura started putting the puzzle pieces together about what happened between me and Zack this morning and started roaring with laughter as I groaned. It had been a very long and awkward morning. I didn't think that anything could top it in like, ever.

I pulled Bailey by the arm close to me. "You say anything, Pickett, and I swear-"

"Subha, does it _look_ like I want to see you and Zack get buried alive?" Bailey said softly between now-silent fits of laughter. Her chocolate brown hair was in a bun, which was bouncing up and down as she walked.

"Bailey, I'm serious."

Bailey slowly stopped laughing for a minute and saw that I wasn't kidding. "Oh my god. You're not actually-"

I cleared my throat. "So Sakura, where's Kero?" I asked Sakura to change topics. "He would have loved to see all of this."

But unfortunately, that didn't stop Bailey from smiling and smirking as she knowingly raised an eyebrow at me. She was keeping her finger between her teeth so that she wouldn't start laughing again. And no matter how much I deny it, she's never going to believe me. _Crikey, I'm so done for._

"Dad agreed to take care of Kero while I'm away," answered Sakura, "Kero wanted to come but me and Shaoran mutually decided that the first thing that he would do is go searching for a cake shop."

I laughed. That's actually what Kero might do...wait, did I hear her right? Her dad, who was originally supposed to have no clue about Sakura having magic, was keeping an eye on Cerberus. Yup, my hearing definitely went to heaven.

"Wait," interrupted Zack, "your dad found out? After years of hiding the fact that you have magic powers?"

"He found out when he was cleaning my room a few months ago, accidentally encountered Kero-chan in the process and found the book where I keep my Sakura Cards," said Sakura. "He also found my Ring Journals and showed them to Tomoyo mother, my aunt, Sonomi, who found Tomoyo's video tapes of me capturing Clow Cards and later transforming them into Sakura Cards. After all that, they both confronted Toya to see if he knew anything about it. This all happened when we were at school, so when we came back to my house, we were shocked as hell to find Sonomi-san sitting at the dinning table with Dad, Kero-chan and Toya.

"They asked Toya," I said slowly, "Your brother, of all people?! Wait, then doesn't that mean-"

"They found out about Yukito as well. After that, Dad asked me why I never told him about this."

"Well, obviously, he would've thought that you were joking," said Bailey.

"After seeing Kinomoto's Ring Journals?" scoffed Meiling. "Not a chance."

Ring Journals were basically rings that record your thoughts and feelings on everything that has happened to you. It's kinda like how you would write everything in a normal diary or journal. Except that these rings actually recorded things the way a video camera could, and also recorded your point of view on events in your life automatically, so you could actually look back and watch past events. There's a locket type door on the ring which you open in order to access your memories. It took me a few good months to make them and I gave them as presents to Ginny, Sakura, Zack, Cody, Harry, Hermione, and yes, even the Knucklehead.

"To be honest though Pickett, he actually took it sportingly...from what I have heard from Sakura," said Shaoran.

"But the thing is, I had to fill him on everything that's happened to me up until then," moaned Sakura. "From the sudden falling of flower petals at Tomeda's Sports festival four years ago to why I was so tired to the point where I couldn't open my eyes when I changed a Clow Card to a Sakura Card. It took me three hours to explain everything in explicit detail. Kero and Yue, Yukito's true form, helped me explain the parts I couldn't, such as Eriol being the reincarnation of Clow Reed himself."

"Speaking of Eriol Hiiragizawa, I saw him in town a few days back," I told Sakura.

Sakura perked up. "Eh? Where?"

"I was in London shopping with Ginny when we bumped into him. He was also with your former teacher Kaho Mizuki. It looks as though you talked about me and Ginny quite a bit, because they knew us at a first glance," I added with a half smile and a eyebrow raised.

Sakura turned to face the front as she laughed nervously and tapped her fingers together. "Um..."

"But either way, we chatted up a bit, talking about you in particular. When I mentioned you were going to The Quidditch World Cup with us, Eriol told us that he feels an enormous amount of dark magic there and we have to be careful. We tried to ask him what was going on, but he just told us to to stick together no matter what and keep an eye out in the process."

"Like we haven't been doing that since we were eight," Sakura said quietly. To say the least, I agreed with her. Princess Morbucks had started to become a pain in the arse and it had been stressing me and Ginny out. The reason behind that was because for the past three years, we had practically been hiding Hogwarts (well, what we could protect) from her view so she couldn't harm the other students and the staff.

"Guys, there it is!" Mr Martin suddenly cried out. "Come on now, quickly!"

We all saw what Mr Martin was pointing at. It was a blue plastic hairbrush sticking out of the grass.

So...the Portkey - no, our Portkey, as it can be any inanimate object - was a blue plastic hairbrush.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Grab on!"

"Dad, you have got to be kidding me," Zack and Cody said together.

We all put our hands on the brush, which for a small brush, everybody was able to put a hand on it.

"And in five, four, three, two, one! Go!"

We all started spinning, and within minutes, it felt like we were floating. It was a few minutes later when Mr Martin said, "On the count of three, let go!"

"WHAT?!" we all cried out.

"NOW!"

We were all screaming our heads off as we let go of the brush. Ten seconds later, there was a thud that told me we found ground.

"Ow..." trailed off Sakura, "if that's the way to travel by Portkey, then count me out of any future Portkey travels."

"Oh come on now," said a voice and as we all looked up, there was Mr. Martin, floating towards the grass and landing perfectly on his feet. "that should have been a great wake up call for you kids! Wasn't it?"

"If you call being dropped on the ground a wake up call, that is," muttered Bailey.

"I never heard of a wake up call that was good to begin with," said Meiling.

"Kurt!" said a voice, "Fancy seeing you here!"

We all turned around, saw Arthur Weasley and Amos Diggory were walking towards us and in tow, were Fred, George, Cedric Diggory, the Knucklehead and...

"Ginny!" Sakura yelled.

"Oi, Hermione!" I cried out, "Did you give the Knucklehead a wake up call for me?"

"I came close to giving Ron and Harry more than a wake up call," answered Hermione as she got close and gave me a hug.

"What's up with you and Ron calling each other Knucklehead and Twit?" Harry asked me when he reached us with a perplexed expression. "I thought you two got along fine...or that's what Fred and George constantly keep telling me."

"Ron and I paid them two gallons to tell you that the minute first term started second year."

Harry sighed in eventual confusion. "I honestly don't get you two..."

"Join the club," said Hermione, "The entire school doesn't either."

"Should we even ask though?"

"Never, mate," answered Ron, who just caught up with them.

"And me and Hermione know the only way to stop these two from fighting temporarily," said Ginny, who had arrived with Sakura.

"How?" asked Harry.

"When they mention you," Ron and I said gloomily.

"It's quite idiotic," said Hermione, "but hey, its been working just fine."

Harry put his face in his hands as though he was tired of it already. In our defense though, he knew _why_ we fought all the bloody time. In fact, he once said to me that Ron and I act like a married couple more than Ron does with Hermione, without the friendship part. But during our second year, Harry mentioned that if he caught the two of us fighting again, he was going to put the both of us on a boat, alone and leave us there until we learned to get along.

After that, the only time we _didn't_ fight was when he was with us.

"Really?" said Sakura with a hint of annoyance, "That's all I had to do?" Crossing her arms as she pouted, she added, "if that was the case then I could have stopped Shaoran and Toya to stop being so antagonistic towards each other a long time ago."

We all looked at her in shock. Sakura knew?!

"What?!" Sakura asked as she stared back at us. Then she sighed. "Those two have been like that since the day I started dating Shaoran. It has been two years, you honestly thought that I wouldn't notice?"

I laughed. "Sis, you never fail to amuse me."

"Well, what did you expect, Subha?" she asked with the pout still on her face. "Those two have to get along at some point in their lives."

"Come on kids!" Mr Weasley called out, "We're all set! You don't want to be left out in the cold now, do you?"

"Oh yeah, we forgot," said Ron. "Me and Harry were supposed to tell you that we were set."

I rolled my eyes. Typical Ron. "Great timing, you Kuncklehead."

"It's been only five minutes, you Twit!" said Ron.

Harry sighed as he walked past us. "Do you honestly want me to put the both of you on a boat?"

The image of me and Ron stranded on a boat for eternity came back to me as it had for the past three years as Hermione and Ginny snickered. Sakura had her typical look that said, _not again_. That was enough for me to not start another fight with Ron with that in mind.

* * *

><p>"Here we are!" said Mr Diggory, "Welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!"<p>

I looked around in awe and amazement. Me, Ginny and Hermione were stopping every five minutes whenever we found something interesting. Mr. Weasley had to tell us a dozen times to keep up but the campsite was so amazing that we couldn't resist a couple of times. A few minutes later, after gawking at everything there, we all parted ways.

"I'll see you guys at the game," said Ginny as she hugged me and Sakura. We all waved goodbye to the Weasleys and the Diggorys and Mr. Martin lead the way to our tent. When we reached there, all we found was a small tent that seemed to fit only five people, max. We all exchanged skeptical looks as I wondered how nine people are going to fit in that small of a tent.

But all of our doubts vanished the minute we entered it. The tent inside was, well, like the TARDIS. Bigger on the inside. There was a couch and two armchairs, along with a fireplace right in the middle of the three furniture.

"Dad, you never really disappoint, do you?" Cody raised an eyebrow.

"Nope!" Mr Martin said happily. "Take a look around!

Putting my bag onto a armchair, I did exactly that as there was three bedrooms for the guys while there was two bedrooms for the girls to share, along with two separate bathrooms.

After we all freshened up, we found out that Mr Martin brought marshmallows, chicken and Chocolate Frogs for lunch. We munched away on them but I had the misfortune of sitting besides Zack. Well, not misfortune but if we were going to be awkward around each other, I'd prefer to be seated next to Sakura and Bailey.

Either way, I had other things on my mind. I thought about when me and Ginny bumped into Kaho Mizuki and Eriol. The thing is, I only told Sakura part of what Eriol told me and Ginny. There was something else I didn't tell her. And maybe I'll tell her when the time is right. Because Princess' family tree, which used to be a mystery to almost everybody, may play a part in why she's hell bent on making us miserable.

And while Ginny went to get some coffee, Eriol warned me about something else: _"Please be careful how you go about hiding Hogwarts. Princess is not a ordinary threat as you believe. Also don't let Sakura know about this conversation. It would be a shame to see her kind heart filled with anger."_

_"What in the world do you mean, Eriol? First off, you're telling me that my family tree has something to do with Princess. Now you tell me that I have to keep this from my own sister?!"_

_"It's for her own good. Do you trust me?"_


	7. Trouble at The Quidditch Cup

**Chapter 5: Trouble at The Quidditch World Cup**

Oh wow. Holy shit, this was amazing. I felt like we were on top of the world. Then again, that's the thing about getting one of the best seats there is.

"How far up are we?" Meiling asked in awe.

"We're meeting up with everyone else so a its a little higher," answered Mr. Martin.

"Anymore higher and we'll run out of oxygen!" Cody said breathlessly.

"Cody, stop complaining and climb faster, will ya?" Zack yelled at his brother.

"Gezz, can't you two act civil for once?" Shaoran asked impatiently.

Zack and Cody looked at each other and burst out laughing at the idea. I started giggling along with them as I put a hand on his shoulder and replied, "Yeah, the answer's no. Take it from someone who's known them for a while."

"You're the only person I would go to when it comes to these two."

"Hey, I deal with those nincompoops during History of Magic as well!" Bailey wailed.

Sakura snickered as I looked up and saw Ginny waving over to us. Two floors up and the red hair was still unmistakable. We reached everybody within a few minutes.

"Gin, how high are we?!" I shouted over the cheering.

"How should I know?!" she replied. "We seem to be high enough!"

I roared with laughter as Fred and George appeared beside me. "Bet you girls five Sickles that Ireland wins!" said Fred.

Ginny and I gave them a blank look. "We root for the same team!"

"Fine," said Ron, who appeared at my right side, "I bet you the four of you ten Sickles that Bulgaria wins. Each."

"You're so gonna lose," said George.

I shook Ron's hand. "You're on, Knucklehead."

"This is amazing!" Sakura yelled as she glanced over the railing, down at the Quidditch pitch. "I actually get to see an actual Quidditch match!" She squealed in delight as Tomoyo recorded everything, mainly Sakura's reactions to it. Shaoran just looked on with a smile on his face while absorbing everything around him.

"You're so cute, Sakura!" Tomoyo squealed as she added dramatically, "I'm so glad that I'm able to record you during this trip." Her eyes and movements literally sparkled as she said, "_Arigato,_ Subha!"

"Tomoyo's at it again, isn't she?" said Ginny wearily. "God, I feel sorry for Sakura at this point."

I laughed nervously. "To think that this is completely normal though..."

I wanted to retreat to a corner at that point. But I couldn't, so I casually hid behind Shaoran. (Well, I couldn't think of anything else, really.) Shaoran turned to face me as I gave him an apologetic look. He just sighed and let me stay behind him. It still surprised me on how quiet and collected he was. He was a direct contrast to Meiling, who was the exact opposite. Sakura was worn out and was blushing slightly at her friend's antics when Harry, who was watching the entire thing, came to Sakura's apparent rescue and started to tell her about how Quidditch was played. It was hilarious and cute watching Tomoyo slightly pout at this.

"Don't worry, Tomoyo," I patted her head, "You'll get it next time."

I felt something bumping me at my legs. I turned around to see what it was, only to find a house elf looking straight at me. She (I think the elf was a female) was shivering, the poor thing. Then again, all she was wearing was a cloth of rags. I knew an house elf when I saw one. The reason being is that I actually met a house elf before; when I was visiting the hospital wing before the end of the year, I bumped into Dobby, who apparently came to Hogwarts because he wanted a job with some pay. When I told him who I was, he literally squealed in excitement that I knew Harry Potter and told me how he was a great wizard. Harry later told me more about him when I mentioned Dobby on the train ride back to Kings' Cross. I was kinda astounded on how he escaped the Malfoy family just to warn Harry about the events occurring our 2nd year. The cake 'dropping' on Uncle Vernon's clients was the most hilarious story I have ever heard in my life, even if it did land Harry into some serious trouble.

"Oh, sorry, miss!" said the elf. "Is the young miss all right?"

I knelt down, head to head to the poor elf. "It's alright. No need to be sorry. What's your name?"

Before the elf could answer, Harry came behind me and said incredulously, "Dobby? Is that you?"

"No, I is Winky!" squeaked the elf. "I is holding the seat for my master. But I knows Dobby! And you," she added in a starstruck voice as she pointed at Harry's scar, "surely is Harry Potter! Dobby talks of you all the time!"

Then she looked at me and Winky's already tennis ball-like eyes widened. "And Dobby was right! Harry Potter's sister shares a remarkable-"

"Wait," I interrupted, "How did you know I'm Harry's sister? Nobody knows except-"

"Dobby told I, miss!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at me. "You told Dobby?"

"Like I said, I bumped into him and he somehow recognized me because he saw me with you at one point," I responded as I waved my fists in the air, "And I thought I told him that he was supposed to keep that a secret!"

Harry simply sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. "Subha, calm down. This wouldn't be a problem if you didn't start keeping our own family trees under wraps."

"Oh please," I mumbled. "I seen what fame had done to Lockhart at Hogwarts. And besides, being crowded by people who want to know more about you is the last thing I want."

"People do that even without knowing the bloody secret, Subha," Hermione said in a matter of fact tone. Over the years, she had developed a habit of coming up behind me without warning. Then again, I often did the same thing to her, so I guess we were even. "I thnk the only thing it would do if it got out is that your chances of being crowded in the halls would increase."

I groaned at the thought. Granger had a point.

"So," continued Hermione as her eyes landed on Winky, "That's a house elf?"

"Yup," said Harry. "So how's Dobby doing? Is freedom suiting him well?"

"Ah, sir," Winky shook her head as she continued, "meaning no disrespect sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favor by setting him free."

Hermione and I glanced at each other, a little startled. "What in the world do you mean by that?"

"Freedom's going to Dobby's head, miss" Winky answered sadly, "Can't get another position."

"Why not?" asked Harry, taken aback.

Lowering her voice, Winky said in a horrified voice that was an octave lower, _"You see, he is wanting paying for his work, sir!"_

She hid her face in her hands as though it was the most shameful thing she could think of.

"Er...Isn't that a good thing?" I asked blankly. "Getting paid...I mean, wouldn't that mean Dobby would be able to support himself?"

"House-elves are not supposed to be paid, miss!" Winky cried out, her squeaky voice muffled behind her hands. "I often says to Dobby, 'yous find a good family and settle down now.' He is getting into all sorts of high jinks that is unbecoming of an house elf."

"About time he had a bit of fun though," said Harry as he grinned.

"House-elves is not supposed to have fun, Harry Potter! House-elves do what they is told. I is very afraid of heights but since my master sent me here to the Top Box, I is here, even though I wishes that I was back in master's tent."

"Guys, the match is starting," hollered Ron.

"What are you three doing down there?" asked Zack. "Come on!"

We both got up and got ready to watch the match as I joined Ginny and Sakura by the railing.

"What did we miss?" I asked the two.

"Nothing much," said Ginny. "But you're just in time, they're about to announce the teams."

"And besides, all you missed was Ron, Cody, Zack and Shaoran nearly ready to climb out of the box when Ireland's _veela_ came out," Sakura said fervently. She made a face when she mentioned Shaoran. "Bailey and Meiling managed to pull them to their seats while I dealt with Shaoran by pulling his ear."

My thought process when Sakura said that she pulled Shaoran by the ear: _Someone's getting jealous..._

I'm not kidding, I mentally sung that.

"By the way," added Sakura, "who the heck were you and Harry-kun talking to?"

"Someone who we thought was a familiar face."

"I can't believe that house elves are being treated this way...as though they were inhuman!" Hermione said furiously. "I mean...for crying out loud, they have feelings too!"

I patted Hermione's head as I tried to calm her down. There are times when her feelings tended to get in the way of her logic. "Granger, we really can't do anything about it right now..."

"What the bloody hell are you and Hermione talking about?" Ron looked back and forth between us like a tennis match. I smirked at him. I loved messing with his mind. Me befriending Hermione during our first year still boggled his and everybody's minds as I was one of the few who could actually talk to her that year without tearing my hair out and in addition, not get murdered whenever I told her that she's boring everybody into sleep.

"I'll explain later, Romeo," I smirked as I pushed him out a little to the left by the forehead. "Let's just watch the match."

Ron rubbed his forehead. "Oh shut it, Juliet. Don't stab yourself out of secrecy."

I rolled my eyes as Fred yelled joyfully and pointed at the sky, "HERE THEY COME!"

I turned my head as we saw a group of seven players in green flying on their brooms all around the stadium with the cheering audience. Then they flew up into the darkening sky and created a huge dancing leprechaun. God, I loved magic.

"There's Troy!" said George.

"Mullet!"

"I can see Moran!"

That's also when Ron, Zack and Cody shouted, "Here come the Bulgarians!"

I saw where they pointed at as another group of seven came flying through the dancing leprechaun, the wind blasting us in the face as they flew by. We all had to hold on to the railing to avoid being completely blasted backwards.

"Did you see that?!" Bailey cried out. "Holy cow, this is on a different level!"

Just as the Bulgarians finished their entrance, a huge bomb went off, signaling everyone to be quiet, as the announcer (Ludo Bagman) announced, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome...welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup!"

The cheering got even louder to the point where it got deafening. "Now...let the games..._begin!"_

He sent out a light with his wand that signaled the teams to start passing the Quaffle.

* * *

><p>We were close to falling out of the box. Why? Because there's a huge chance that Ireland will win now. The scores had a bit of a huge gap between Bulgaria and Ireland. Adian Lynch, the Irish Seeker, had just seen the snitch and had dived down towards it with Krum on his tail.<p>

"He's seen the snitch!" Harry shouted. Everybody were on the edge of their seats as the two seekers went at it. The pair were hurtling towards the ground again as Krum caught up with him.

"Is he pulling a Wronski Feint again?" Zack yelled.

"This isn't a Wronski Feint, you idiots!" Cody shouted.

"Oh my god, I can't watch!" Bailey covered her eyes.

"Come on, Lynch!" Ginny yelled hoarsely, "Make it count!"

"GO GO GO!" Fred and George shouted along with their sister.

"They're going to crash!" Sakura and Hermione shrieked. The two of them were holding each other's hands tightly as Krum was now leveling Lynch.

"They better not!" roared Ron.

"Lynch is!" me and Harry yelled at the top of our lungs.

Turns out me and Harry were right. Within seconds, Lynch crashed onto the Quidditch pitch with tremendous force as he was stamped on by a bunch of angry Veela.

"THE SNITCH," Charlie Weasley bellowed along with everybody in the row, "WHERE'S THE BLOODY SNITCH?!"

"HE'S GOT IT!" shouted Harry, "KRUM'S GOT IT - IT'S ALL OVER!"

With his robes soaked and covered with blood, Krum held the snitch high up in the air, the gold color in his hand signaling defeat.

The scoreboards showed:

_BULGARIA:_ 160 _IRELAND:_ 170

"YES!" I screamed as I hugged Ginny and Sakura in delight, "YES! IRELAND WON!"

"YOU OWE US TEN SICKLES, RON!" yelled Ginny.

"GODDAMMIT, IS HE MAD?!" Ron bellowed as he gave me and Ginny the amount and applauded along with everybody else, "He caught the bloody snitch when Ireland were 160 points ahead!"

"He must have known that they couldn't catch up, right?" said Harry thoughtfully. "Thought that he'd end it on his own terms?"

I whooped in delight, shouting along with the crowd as Ireland made its lap of honor before accepting the World Cup, which was a vast gold cup the size of an arm. Adian Lynch came out supported by his teammates, looking dazed and unfocused by the second crash onto the pitch. Grinning rather happily with his teammates, chaser Troy and keeper Quigley held the cup proudly above them as they made another honor round around the pitch.

"And now," Bagman said through his amplified voice, "Give it up for the gallant losers!"

The Bulgarian team filed out on the pitch one by one. The crowd clapped appreciatively but the minute Krum stepped out, the roars of applause got to a deafening level again. I didn't care though. I was one of the people cheering along with them.

After the Irish team made its celebratory rounds, the crowd slowly started to clear out.

Tomoyo sighed in relief as we walked back to our campsite. "Thank goodness. That was intense."

"So this is what Quidditch is like," proclaimed Meiling. "Who knew that flying around on a broom and tossing a ball into a hoop like it's basketball could be so intense?" She eyed Sakura intensely as she said this.

"What did you expect, Meiling?" she replied. "After all, a sport is supposed to be intense!"

"I'm not surprised that that's basically your thought process, Kinomoto. You _are_ on Tomeda Middle School's Cheer Team, as well as Track."

"First off, Meiling," Bailey said incredulously, "What does being on the cheer team have to do anything with it? And second..."

"I'm happy that Ireland won," said Ginny. "and the fact that me and Subha won a bet against Ron. MUWAHAHAHAH!"

"I, for one, enjoyed it," I declared as I put an arm around Ginny and Sakura. "It was like Quidditch like I'd never seen it before."

"You and me both, Subha," agreed Harry. "You and me both."

"I still can't believe that Bulgaria lost," Ron said sadly. "They had the best seeker in history!"

"That still doesn't mean that they would win, Knucklehead," I stated. "Although it would increase their chances..."

"Twit," Ron grumbled under his breath as he rolled his eyes and started mimicking me.

We all split up later to go back to our respective campsites as we bid each other good night.

"This is the best thing to ever happen to me," said Bailey happily and content.

"I'll say," swooned Cody. Me and Zack shared a look and rolled our eyes._ That lovesick idiot. And he's calling me oblivious._

We all got back to our tent, where we blissfully argued about the outcome of the match as we ate dinner. Mr. Martin joined in as well (he supported Bulgaria, by the way) while Tomoyo recorded the entire thing. It wasn't until when Sakura fell asleep on Shaoran's shoulder did we all eventually call it a night and retire to our rooms.

"I'm glad that I'm not working today," yawned Mr. Martin. "I'd hate to tell the Irish to stop making all of the racket outside..."

Sakura and I shared a bunk bed while Meiling and Bailey argued about who gets to sleep on the couch. Tomoyo pointed out that Meiling can share the space with her, so Bailey ended up getting the top, and Meiling ended up sharing the bottom with Tomoyo. I drifted off into a deep sleep with the Irish celebrating outside along with an very odd canon-like bomb going off in the distance. I started dreaming wildly about flying on Harry's Firebolt, doing a Wronski Feint, and then all of a sudden, I was back in the Top Box snogging Zack...

_"Subha...Subha..." _a familiar voice called from a long way off. I was starting to come back into conscious when I felt someone shaking me.

"Subha!" the voice shouted as my eyes shot open. It was Zack, his hands on my shoulders. I immediately blushed as I thought about what I was dreaming. I sat up on the bed as he said in relief: "Oh good. You're awake."

"Zack, w-what the hell?!" I asked him dimly. He however, had a serious look on his face.

"We need to get out of here. _Now."_

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: YAY, I ACTUALLY GET A CHAPTER DONE ON TIME!_**

**_Okay then. Anyway I'd love to hear some constructive feedback! See you later!_**

**_Vote and/or comment if you liked it! :)_**


	8. The Sky's Warning

**Chapter 6: The Sky's Warning**

I gave him a point blank confused look. "What do you mean that we have to get out of here?"

But even at this point, I could tell something was terribly wrong. The singing had stopped and it had been replaced with terrified screams and running footsteps. Zack had already started waking up Sakura and everybody else in the room as I stood up to get my jacket. "Guys, wake up! I'm serious, we have to get out! Dad's outside waiting for us!"

As if on cue, Shaoran came into the room and pressed the horn that he had with him. Hard. Everybody was awake within seconds.

"Zack, Shaoran, what the hell are you two doing in here?!" Bailey shot furiously. "Can't a girl get her beauty sleep?"

"Shaoran, what's going on?" Sakura asked him in a troubled tone.

"We can't explain right now," Shaoran said urgently as he tossed Sakura and Meiling their jackets. "Everyone just grab a jacket and get outside - quickly!"

We all did as he told as I grabbed my wand and met up with Mr. Martin outside the tent. When we got out there, I realized that Zack and Shaoran weren't kidding. The place was a complete massacre. With the few fires that were burning lightly, I could see that everybody was running towards the woods. As I turned to my left, I could see a tightly packed group dressed in black walking towards the terrified crowd. A few of the masked wizards levitated the few wizards that were too slow and another bomb, which I realized was another spell, went off in the near distance.

"Alright," Mr. Martin said seriously, "Cody, Bailey and Tomoyo are your responsibility! Zack, Shaoran, Sakura and Subha are yours! Meiling, you wouldn't mind sticking with me for a while, right?"

Meiling shook her head. "No, I don't mind. But please make sure that Shaoran doesn't get hurt."

"Alright then. Don't worry about that, I'll keep everyone here safe to the best of my ability. Don't get split up and stick together!"

"Sakura!" Tomoyo cried out but Sakura quickly calmed her down with a hug.

"Don't worry, Tomoyo," she said soothingly, "You'll be alright. But you need to stay with Cody and Bailey, okay?"

Tomoyo nodded. Bailey grabbed Tomoyo's hand. "Come on, let's go."

They both ran after Cody as Zack grabbed my hand and ran along with them.

"Sakura, come on!" Shaoran cried out, grabbing Sakura's hand in the process. As we all sprinted, we suddenly heard a deep voice cry out,_ "Mosmorde!"_

The screams got even louder. "_The Dark Mark! It's the Dark Mark!"_

_"It's them! The Death Eaters!__"_

We all froze as Zack and I shared a frightful glance and looked up at the sky. It had turned completely green in the dark. A green cloud of smoke took the form of a skull with a serpent coming out out of it's mouth. It was truly a terrifying sight.

_Just what the hell is going?!_

I then felt another hand on my shoulder. "Come on Zack, Subha. I'll explain what that means later."

"Dad..." Zack tried to say but got stopped as Mr. Martin pushed us both a little bit, making us wrench our gaze from the sky and get to the safety of the woods.

* * *

><p>"Subha! Sakura! What the hell took you so long?!"<p>

Ginny glared at us angrily for a moment before giving us a hug in relief.

"We're sorry, Ginny, " Sakura apologized.

"Yeah, wading through a terrified crowd is hard enough," I said fervently. "Running through one is no easy task."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just glad that you're not dead."

I looked around and saw that we were missing someone.

"Where's Harry?" I asked Mr. Weasley.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as everybody looked around and found Harry to be nowhere near them.

"Blimey..." Fred trailed off. "He was with us, Dad, I swear!"

"I-I'll go look for him," said Ron. He started to run out of the woods as Hermione followed him. I started to run as well but Ginny pulled me back.

"Subha, don't!"

"He's my brother, Gin, I have to go!"

"Ginny, let her come," Hermione said coaxingly. "We'll be with her, I promise."

Ginny looked almost mutinous. But eventually, Sakura put a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's okay. She's not going to die."

Ginny sighed in resignation and let me go. "Don't die on me, Patel."

"We're not gonna bring her back in pieces, sis," said Ron. "Calm down."

I took out my wand and said, _"Lumos!"_

"Ron, Subha, let's go," Hermione called out as we followed her out of the woods.

* * *

><p>"Harry!"<p>

"Harry, where are you?!"

_"Harry!"_

"Oooh!" a frustrated Hermione cried out. "Where in the world could he be?"

"Hm, perhaps he got caught by a bunch of veela?" suggested Ron.

Hermione and I scrutinized him gravely. A minute later, we nodded at each other and smacked him on the head.

"Ow!" Ron winced. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

"Well, it's not helping, ya Knuckl-" I stopped midsentence as we heard footsteps shuffling. And then wood crashing. We all had our wands lighting the way but we didn't need to. The sky was already green with the skull and the serpent. That's also when I saw a familiar figure. Even in the dark, I could see round glasses...

"There!" I cried out as I pointed and ran towards the figure.

"Subha, wait!" Hermione yelled and sprinted after me.

"Wait a minute, that is Harry!" confirmed Ron. "Oi, Harry!"

Turns out, I was right. We reached Harry within a few seconds.

"Harry, you idiot!" I gave him a big hug.

"Subha?" Harry was astonished. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find you, of course!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Thought we lost you, mate," Ron said in relief. "What happened?"

"What happened is that my wand's missing!" said Harry. "I got knocked out while running over to the woods. I wake up, I find my wand missing, a serpent coming out of a skull in the sky and you three find me three minutes later."

I pointed at the skull in the sky. "What the hell is that thing in the sky and who do you think cast it?"

"That's the Dark Mark," said Hermione. "I read about it in _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts._ Voldemort and his followers used that-"

She stopped talking and grabbed my hand. I in turn grabbed Harry's as we heard more footsteps. We huddled closer together with our wands out as the sound got louder. The minute we heard someone yell out, _"Stupefy!"_, Harry and Ron pulled me and Hermione down to the ground as they both yelled, "Duck!"

Red sparks of lights went flying left and right above us. After that, someone shouted, "No, stop! Stop! _That's - my - son!"_

The spells stopped flying above us as we saw Mr. Weasley running towards us. "Ron, Harry, Hermione, Subha, you alright?"

We all nodded slowly as a very old man came running up at us and brandished his wand at us. "Which one of you did it?" He said loudly to the four of us. We all stared at him in utter shock as he continued, "You were found at the scene of the crime!"

"Barty," a voice who I recognized as Mr. Martin said in disbelief, "They're just kids."

"Wait a minute," said Harry, "What scene? What crime?!"

"The Dark Mark," Hermione whispered into his ear, "Harry, it's his mark."

His eyes widened and glanced at me. We both perfectly knew who Granger was referring to. I looked up into the sky again. So the terrifying skull in the air was a symbol for Voldemort and his followers. _Oh, now that's just great. What's next, the Dark Lord himself coming back?_

Right then, Mr. Diggory came out beside Mr. Barty Crouch and whispered something into his ear. Mr. Crouch looked him in disbelief. "Amos, where is she?"

"Right this way, Barty," Mr. Diggory gestured that way as Crouch and the rest of us followed suit. A few steps later, we saw an unconscious figure lying in the rubble. Taking a closer look at it, it was the figure of a familiar elf, who was wearing a tea cloth for clothing. It was Winky. I yelped in surprise as I cried out her name. Crouch glared at me. "How do you know my elf's name?"

Before I could answer, Hermione answered for me: "We met her when we were in the Top Box during the game."

"I'm - I'm sorry, Mr. Crouch," I stammered out, "I didn't know-"

Crouch, however, dismissed my apology with a wave of his hand. I would be lying if I said that it didn't offend me a tiny bit, but we had much more pressing matters in our hands.

"Either way, it looks like my elf has been Stunned," Crouch continued. A nasty silence filled the air as realization dawned on everybody's faces.

"Come on now..." Mr. Weasley said quietly, " You don't think that an elf cast a Dark Mark now, do you?"

"It is very plausible," said Mr. Diggory. "I found the elf in possession of a wand. That's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken for a start. _No nonhuman creature is permitted to use or carry a wand_." He pulled out a wand that looked very similar to...

"Hey, that's my wand!" Harry cried out.

All eyes turned towards Harry.

"This is yours?" said Mr. Diggory. Closing up on him, he asked accusingly, "Is this a confession? Are you the one who conjured the Dark Mark?"

"With no means of disrespect, sir but are you saying that my own brother put that thing up there in the sky?!" I asked furiously.

Mr. Diggory blinked. "Your brother?"

I covered my mouth. _Damn, now I really gone and done it. _"Ne-never mind."

"And besides, Amos," Mr. Weasley added quickly to steer away from the subject, "Is Harry Potter, of all people, likely to conjure such a Dark symbol?!"

"What do you think then, Arthur, Amos?!" Crouch said loudly, wildly looking at them both. _"You think that I would be barmy enough to give my elf permission to use a wand?!"_

"Er - of course not," Mr. Diggory apologetically. "What I mean is that-"

"It's still impossible, Amos," interrupted Mr. Martin, sounding highly disbelieving by the minute. "First off, she would need to have a wand with her. Second, how would she know the spell to being with?!"

"Well, I think it's about time we heard what she has to say for herself," concluded Mr. Diggory. He pointed his wand at Winky and said, _"Rennervate!"_

Winky stirred feebly. Her big brown eyes surveyed the now slightly crowded clearing. Sitting up slowly, she took one look at the sky, saw the Dark Mark and burst into terrified sobs.

"Elf, do you know who I am?" Mr. Diggory said sternly. "I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures! As you can see, the Dark Mark has been conjured up a little over an hour ago."

The poor elf began to rock back and forth as she started say, "I is not doing it! I is not doing it!"

"You were caught red handed, elf!" roared Mr. Diggory. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"

"Diggory," Crouch said curtly, "I do realized that under normal circumstances, you would want to take her in for questioning. However, I ask that you will let me deal with the matter."

Mr. Diggory tried to say something but eventually nodded and left the clearing. Mr. Martin and Mr. Weasley however, remained.

"Winky," Crouch said coldly, "You have behaved in a manner I would not have believed possible. I will give you the proper punishment for disobeying me."

"M-M-Master..." Winky stammered as she sobbed, "M-Master, please..."

"This means..._clothes."_

"No!" Winky shrieked, "No Master, please-"

"Come on, kids," Mr. Weasley said sadly and sympathetically, "let's get going."

We slowly shuffled over to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Martin as Hermione and I tried not to look back at Winky crying her eyes out. We reached everybody in the woods with Harry in tow.

"What the heck happened?" Zack asked as we reached them.

"Yeah," agreed Sakura. "The four of you look white as a ghost."

"Um...we'll explain later..." I trailed off.

"Dad..." said Bill Weasley, "it's them isn't it? The Death Eaters?"

"Death Eaters?" Ron looked at his older brother curiously, "What the bloody hell are they?"

"That's what You-Know-Who's supporters and followers called themselves," said Hermione shakily. "Back when he was still in power..."

"Those were dark times, I tell you," Mr. Weasley said darkly, "you kids are far too young to know but..."

"But if the Death Eaters are back," Sakura said in troubled tone, "Then won't that mean-"

"That maybe the Dark Lord is back?" Bill finished. "Yeah, we're bloody screwed if that happens."

"Either way, I think that it's safe to head back to the tents," said Mr. Martin. "It's been one hell of a night. And besides, Carey will kill me if I don't have Zack and Cody at the house by tomorrow afternoon."

We marched towards our respective tents and uncomfortably tried to snuggle back into bed. However, none of us could sleep and in the end, we all just ended up falling sleeping by taking about the dark turn the trip has taken. Tomoyo was especially somewhat shaken by it. She didn't say anything but the fact that someone out there could kill her friends and family is enough to shake anyone into perspective. Long story short, we couldn't blame her.

Anyway, I was the last one to fall asleep. The wild fantasies that I had before were long gone. Eriol's warning was still etched in my head. Is this what he meant by that we had to stick together? Even if the warning had to do more with Hogwarts and Princess than the World Cup, I had a feeling that I was going to get into a lot more trouble than I could imagine.

And in my case, that's probably not a good thing.


	9. An Unexpected Friendship

**_A/N: Anyway, remember when I said that this rewrite is going to be told from Subha's POV with a few exceptions here and there? Well...this is one of those exceptions. So whenever there's a another POV I want to add in a chapter, I will mention that person's POV and so forth. And whenever its just Subha's however, I won't mention her name. (You'll know immediately though. Or I'll put a warning anyway. XD) In addition to that, a small warning: this and next four chapters are a sub plot that will make sense as I __progress though the book._**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: An Unexpected Friendship<strong>

_Zack's POV_

I'm done. I'm so freaking done.

First off, I ended up kissing my best friend. Then the Quidditch World Cup comes and while we're there, the entire event gets attacked by Death Eaters. It's been a week after the incident and people were still talking about it. Then considering that Bubbles, Boomer, Buttercup and Butch asked me, Cody and Subha to try to get Blossom and Brick get along, I now had to hear them arguing every single afternoon. (The Girls have a summer house in Britain not far from Dad's and the Boys have one close to Subha's.)

Anyway, who the hell put the idea that Blossom and Brick can get along into their sisters' and brothers' (respectively) bloody heads?! Looking at their history way back when they were still in kindergarten at Townsville, it's practically impossible. In fact, the rest of us were quite surprised to find that Buttercup and Butch found something they had in common and formed a friendship on that basis, which was having a prank war with Fred and George last year. Oh man, I still end up laughing at random whenever I think about how Buttercup and Butch lost big time. The only person who can go up in a prank war against them and actually _win_, is Subha. And that's barely, for god's sake. Bubbles and Boomer...well, let's just say that sparks have started flying between those two near June last year.

But I'm probably going off track. I was stuck with Blossom and Brick today and I have gotten so used to hearing those two argue that I just started bringing earplugs whenever it was my turn. Apparently, Subha was the only one with any sort of success while Cody failed miserably at every turn he got. But for some reason this afternoon, a half hour goes by and I didn't hear any hint of an argument from them. No retorts and insults, just Blossom being engrossed in a book that she brought with her and Brick nonchalantly playing with his Game Boy. It was weird, because we were taking a walk outside the village for a bit so it was going to take a while to get back home as we were more than an hour away. I was almost hoping for the fact that the two would start arguing. But at the same time, I wasn't exactly complaining. I needed the time because I couldn't get Subha out of my head, no matter how hard I tried to. I thought that, hey, maybe an hour later I can return home with the mindset of Subha as my best friend again and well...not anything more.

Boy, was I wrong. Why? Because one, part of me knew that I had been crushing on her since our first year at Hogwarts and I was never going to able to get rid of that pesky feeling of love towards her as long as I lived. Second, it was also because of a series of events that took place ten minutes later.

We continued walking down a dirt road when we suddenly heard a rustle.

"What was that noise?" Blossom looked up from her book and glanced around to see with wide eyes.

"Probably just a bug," answered Brick, although he put his Game Boy away and looked around as well. "Stop being such a scaredy cat, Utonium."

"I'm not being a scaredy cat, you dumbass," Blossom retorted as she gave her attention back to the book. "It's called 'being alert,' if your brain cells can take in that simple task."

Oh man. They're at it again. "Guys, we had a peaceful half hour of not arguing. Can we please maintain that?"

Brick rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms and muttered, "She started it."

Blossom closed her book. She stopped and pulled at Brick's sweater, gearing up to fight. "What the hell do you mean by I'm the one who started this?!"

"My, my Blossom," he said, smiling smugly as he leaned towards Blossom's face. "You're not falling in love with me, are ya?"

Blossom made a disgusted face and rolled her eyes. She pushed him down to the ground as she added, "You're completely useless."

You know, as much as I wanted those two to get along as quickly as possible, even I had to admit that Blossom won that argument. I was snickering so hard that I didn't even realize that Brick had gotten up until he punched my right arm.

"Ow!" I cried out in pain. "Geez, man, what was that for?"

"Oh shut up Zack. I know how you and Subha got comfy last time. So unless you want Cody to-"

"Alright, alright, I get your point." I sighed as that incident with Subha crossed my memory. Especially her blue eyes. They seem to get more lighter every time I see her. He eyes constantly change according to who she's with, so it's impossible to pinpoint what blue means. For some reason though, Cody keeps calling me an oblivious idiot because of that.

"Oi! Zack, Brick!" Blossom cried out, who was a few feet away, "you, uh...might wanna see this."

I was snapped out my little daydream as Brick and I ran over to see what Blossom was talking about.

"Blossom, what's going - what in Merlin's beard...?" My jaw dropped as I turned and saw what Blossom pointed at. We were standing in front of a huge marblestone castle with the typical moat, except the lake was completely frozen over. The reason why I mention that is because with the current summer weather, the lake was supposed to be water.

"What in the world is this?" asked an astonished Brick.

"How should I know?!" I answered irritably. "That's what I'm trying to figure out! Better yet, how is there a castle here, of all places?"

We both then looked at Blossom, who had the look of a petrified statue. Her mouth and eyes looked permanently frozen in knowing surprise.

"Uh...Blossom?" Brick asked tentatively. "Are you feeling okay?" He waved his hand in front of her face slowly. She didn't even flinch. And for the first time ever, I actually saw Brick give a genuinely concerned look. Huh. Despite all the fighting between them, I guess that deep down, they have started to care for one another. And all it took was three years of heated arguments, old grudges and their brothers and sisters getting sick of it to the point of forcing them to spend some time together. Oh, the irony.

"This...this is...oh my god, we actually found it," Blossom had the look of surprise still etched on her face.

I started to get seriously worried. "Blossom, what are you talking about? What do mean by _we found it?"_

Blossom took out the book she brought with her, frantically turning pages until she found the one she as looking for. She then shoved it into my face. I was utterly confused at this point. Glancing at Brick with a what-the-heck-is-going-on-here look and Brick returning the same gesture, I turned my attention to the book. On the page that Blossom shoved in my nose, I saw a picture of the exact same castle that we were standing in front of. Below the picture, was the following text:

_"Here is the castle of Princess Jodha Randall, the former princess of the Mughal reigon."_

Princess Jodha? Who the hell was she? Blossom sure as hell knew, because the minute I asked her this, she turned a few pages back and the next this I knew, I was looking at a younger look alike of Subha, except that she was adorned with gold jewelry and one of those saris that Subha sometimes wore (and ultimately regretted every single time.) In addition, the look alike looked like the typical medieval Indian compared to Subha's fair complexion and slight tomboyish personality. I did notice some similarities though. The both of them seemed to hold themselves with that similar grace and elegance even as I looked on paper. I dropped the book in utter shock. "Holy shi...Blossom, h-how freaking long d-did you know?!" I stammered out.

"I bought this recently at Diagon Alley when I was buying school supplies." Blossom hesitated before replying shakily, "So about three weeks."

"Three weeks?! Blossom, why the hell didn't you tell anyone this?!" Brick cried out indignantly.

"Cause I didn't want to cause a panic attack, especially for Subha! Ask yourself, the both of you!" Blossom added furiously as she faced us, "what would you do if you found out that Subha was the descendant of an ancient princess who was also a powerful witch, not to mention that she had a priceless pendant which has been passed down from generation to generation and is originally supposed to be residing at Subha's neck?"

I'm not so sure if I even heard her at that point because one, Brick and I have turned paled as a poorly made ghost costume. No, that's not right. No...we turned paler than Nearly Headless Nick at a Christmas feast. And two, I think I went deaf when I heard the words _witch, princess_ and _Subha_ in the same sentence.

In Fred Jones' words: "We have a mystery to solve."

And boy was I in for a lot of surprises.

* * *

><p><em>Blossom's POV<em>

_"Well?!"_

I stood there, impatiently waiting for them to stop acting like idiots and answer my damn question. I turned to Brick who, as usual, had the expression of a donkey. "What do you think?! What would you do, huh?"

"I don't know!" yelled Brick, which actually kind of surprised me, seeing as he rarely did that these days. He sighed as he added, "I don't know. But the least I would do is tell Subha or my brothers about what the sam hill is going on."

Like hell he would. Subha, I can believe. But his brothers? "I thought that you didn't like telling your brothers about how you feel."

Brick crossed his arms and looked away. Then about a minute later, he faced me again as his eyes narrowed into slits. Then he said something that at that point and time, I probably should have expected: "Things change, Blossom. I think you, of all people know that."

My eyes widened as I gave him a questioning look. I was a little astonished to see that the idiotic leader of the Rowdyruff Boys I knew back in Townsville had actually started maturing. It was kind of a nice change to see.

"Well then," Zack cleared his throat, "Shall we go and um...see how Subha is connected to all of this?"

I glanced at Brick, who for some reason I was starting to seeing in a slightly different light. "Yeah...let's go and check it out."

And we went inside the castle.

It's been fifteen minutes and we still haven't seen a thing about why and how Subha is related to an ancient princess. Well, that could have been due to the castle's age...but still. There should have been some clue. We split up when we entered so we could cover the perimeter of the castle. Should've been easy, right?

In Zack's words: _Ha ha. Not._

We all bumped into each other another five minutes later at what seems to be the center of the castle, not being able to find anything and started coming up with what to do now. But apparently, Brick, (as usual) had a different thinking running through his mind.

"It is quite dark in this stupid castle," said Brick.

I sighed. "Brick, please come up with a better reason about why we can't find anything in this castle. There is light in this castle because there's a huge altar with a skylight at the west side."

"Blossom, even with our wands it's impossible to find anything. You got a better idea?"

"Yeah, sure," Zack answered sarcastically. "You tell me months ago the you are afraid of heights and then go on about how dark the castle looks. What's next, you contracting Ron's arachnophobia?"

I looked at Zack in shock. This was definitely news to me. "Brick's afraid of heights?"

Zack nodded while he failed miserably at trying to keep a straight face. Five seconds later, I lost it as well. I didn't stop laughing for two minutes straight. "Oh my god, I can't believe this!" I said breathlessly, clutching my stomach.

"St-stop laughing!" Brick stammered. "It was one bloody incident!" He started blushed and as he backed up to a door that seemed to be really fragile. We both stopped laughing immediately when he crashed into it.

"Dude..." Zack trailed off as we both peered over him. "Brick, are you alright?"

Brick threw an annoyed expression at Zack, who gave him his hand and got up.

"Next time, be a little more careful, will you?" I smirked.

"Oh, shut up, Utonium."

I burst out laughing, but stopped as Zack put his hand on my shoulder. "Guys...I don't think we have explored this castle to its fullest extent yet."

"Zack, what the hell are you talking about?" Brick asked uneasily.

"Yeah," I agreed, which was...astonishing. "We already covered every single-"

I stopped speaking when Zack pointed over where Brick fell. I saw nothing but Zack pushed my chin up slightly and I saw what he meant. "Oh my lord."

The door that Brick fell through had a huge hole that revealed an arch on the other side. We all pushed the door (if you can call it that, because it was just a colossal wooden slab with no handle), which revealed a huge tunnel which showed apparent daylight. The slab went down with a huge _thud _and then just turned into dust.

"Well then," I said after I finished getting the dust out of my eyes, "this day has certainly taken an interesting turn...for better or for worse."

Zack started to sprint towards the light. Me and Brick followed him but he had a bit of a head start so he was ten feet ahead of us. He suddenly screeched to a stop as he reached the end of the arch and hollered, "Oh, _ya think?!_"

* * *

><p><em>Brick's POV<em>

My brothers are complete idiots.

No, not idiots, just...plain cruel. Even though it's safe to say that I kind of deserved it after all those years, any other form of punishment would have better than spending time with Blossom. She annoys me to the bone! She constantly starts sprouting facts like Hermione Granger, thinks that she's better than everyone and yet she says that I'm no better. Why did Boomer and Butch think that they can get me to actually find common ground with her?

But for some reason, she seemed a little less annoying today. I don't know but before we entered this castle, Blossom was the most annoying person in the universe. When we started searching the castle for clues to Subha's lineage though, she didn't seem so bad. I guess after what I said about things changing, she seemed to quiet down a bit on the constant know-it-all persona, even before this incident.

Anyway, enough about my personal predicament. Zack reached the light and was apparently standing in shock. Blossom and I flew towards him to see what else this stupid castle had to throw at us.

When we reached him, what we saw was totally unexpected.

There was a bridge leading to another side of the castle, and looking down the bridge as we walked over it, there was a huge ravine with some extra bridges on different levels connecting the two sides together.

"What the hell is this castle doing to me?" I cried out.

"Or rather, what is this castle?" corrected Blossom. This entire part shouldn't even exist!"

"Why do I have a feeling that the part of the castle that we entered through was a portal?" asked Zack.

I highly doubted that it was a portal. But before I could go along with the theory, a voice proved him wrong.

"It's not a portal. However, you have entered through an enchantment that should be impossible for most people to enter."

We all jumped. As we turned around, I saw a sword at my throat. I backed up immediately as I got a closer look at the sword's owner. It was a girl with dark scarlet hair. She wore a girl version of a knight's armor with a symbol that resembled...a fairy with a tail. That's odd...it looked familiar but...

"Oh my lord...I-I know who you are..." Zack stammered out.

The girl looked at him quizzically and put down her sword. "Oh? And who might I be and how do you know?"

It's official. Zack had gone wacko. But maybe not so much when I heard the name...

"You're one of the most powerful mages in history..._Erza Scarlet!_"

My jaw dropped. Blossom, in the meantime, asked, "Zack, how in the world do you even know that's her in the flesh?"

"It's unmistakable," said Zack. "And guys..." he looked at us bleakly, "Come on, the one time every single person was awake during History of Magic was when Binns was teaching us about the guilds that existed long ago, especially when he was talking about Fairy Tail!"

When Zack mentioned Fairy Tail, that's when everything fell into place. Erza Scarlet was an S-mage in Fairy Tail, one of the guilds that existed long before the formation of the Ministry of Magic. But if Fairy Tail used to exist long before then, Erza Scarlet shouldn't even exist.

"Eh? History of Magic?" Erza tilted her head. "Guess you three really are wizards. But even with that in mind...how did you find this castle to begin with?"

Zack shrugged. "We came across it by accident. Blossom here recognized it from the book that she was reading and found out that it may have something to do with our f-friend, Subha Patel."

Everybody gave Zack a funny look as he stuttered the word friend. Damn, he had it bad.

"Either way," Zack continued after silently glaring at us for a minute. "Can you help us?"

Erza still had a suspicious look on her face. "And how would I know that you're not here for other ulterior motives?" That's when we heard more voices coming off from a distance.

"Erza!" a girl cried out. She came in flying. On a dragon. A Deadly Nadder, to be more precise.

And that's when things got confusing. The reason: Ron once told us that his brother Charlie dealt with them in Romania alone and also that they're difficult to tame if you don't use the right tactics. (Boy, wouldn't Hagrid love that?) The girl had her dirty blonde hair in a braid, her outfit consisted of shoulder pads, a skirt with spikes surrounding it and another skirt at the bottom of the spiked skirt with a pouch on her hip, fur around her shoulders, which took the form of a hood, along with a red shirt. It looked like what the vikings back in the day would wear. Wait...on second thought...maybe it was.

"Who was it?" asked the girl, "Did you find them?"

"Yeah, its alright," Erza assured her. "Don't worry Astrid. I think that we can trust these people."

"You just told us that you didn't know whether we could be trusted or not!" we cried out.

Erza ignored our jab as the girl called Astrid glanced at us and surveyed us up and down. Her dragon suddenly jumped on Zack and started sniffing him like a dog would. When it was done, the dragon got off Zack and sat down in front of him with a playful look.

"What is it, Stormfly?" asked Astrid as she petted the dragon. "Are they good?"

Maybe I was dreaming, but I could have sworn that I saw the dragon nod in response. The girl faced us and held out her hand. "The name's Astrid Hofferson, by the way. What's yours?"

We introduced ourselves as we heard someone scream, _"Toothless, what in Thor's name are you doing?!"_

"Ah, looks like Hiccup and Toothless have bit of a disagreement," said Astrid. She didn't even look as a guy came crashing down with a dragon right beside her.

"Did you find the intruders?" the guy groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. He was also wearing an armor...or suit of sorts. His brown hair was unkempt and had two tiny braids at the side. He also had a prosthetic for his left leg that looked more mechanical than normal. He looked at the dragon right beside him. "Hey bud, you all right?"

He scratched behind the dragon's ears. That's when I realized that I was looking a a Night Fury. Blossom went towards the dragon closer with a type of curiousness that I never saw before. Things could've been worse. It could have eaten her alive. But it didn't. In fact, it purred as Blossom scratched the Night fury behind it's ear.

"Gezz, these are really rare..." she trailed off. "How did you find one?"

"Er..." the guy stuttered. "His name is Toothless, of you want to know..."

"Erza and Stormfly confirmed that it's fine," said Astrid. "We can tell them."

"Yeah," the guy agreed. "Considering what me and Toothless heard, I'll go with it. But first, I gotta introduce myself." He stood up and held out his hand. "Name's Hiccup."

We gave him a strange look while we tried not to laugh.

"Great name, I know," he said sarcastically. He sighed as he added, "But...it's not the worst."

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CLIFFHANGER!_**

**_Anyway, Erza, Astrid and Hiccup have offically appeared. Let's welcome How To Train Your Dragon and Fairy Tail to my wonderful world. *cue applause* XDXD_**

**_Hope you liked the chapter enough to vote and/or comment! And I also hope you like the collages as well :)_**

**_With that said, I got a lot more cliffhangers in my belt. AHAHAHAHA *thunder booms*_**


	10. (Full Title Inside XD)

_**A/N: **__**I'm sticking to Zack's POV for a bit. Just preparing you guys for that. In addition, I'm too lazy to switch POVs mid chapter but its also because I know most of you hate that.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: The Princess, The Legend and...A Captured Dragon?<strong>

_Zack's POV_

Well. Things couldn't get anymore weirder than it did. Then again, I'm a wizard. Nothing is ever normal for me.

But that still didn't mean that I would find myself in an ancient castle with Blossom and Brick, sitting and talking to Erza Scarlet, a mage from Fairy Tail, along with Astrid Hofferson and Hiccup Haddock, one of the first people to train dragons.

"So, wizards in the future go to a wizarding school called Hogwarts?" Erza said in amazement. We were sitting around in a circle at one of the castle's terraces, swapping stories about what happened in the present.

"Yeah," Blossom confirmed. "Wizards go there starting at the age of eleven and learn whatever you need to know about becoming a good and capable wizard."

"It's actually really cool," said Brick. "Different spells, learn how to brew potions-"

"The history of magic, how they see muggles-"

"Wait," Hiccup interrupted. "Mortals don't know about wizards and dragons anymore?" He glanced at Toothless worriedly. Toothless, in the meantime, gave Hiccup a side tilt and a nudge while Hiccup gave him a rub. "I kinda find that-"

"Impossible?" I finished for him as I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, that's like a really long story. Nowadays, only people with magic know anything about magic at all."

"And why call people without magic _muggles?" _Erza asked.

I shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea on how to respond to that.

"It's been like that since forever," answered Blossom. "We honestly don't know."

"By the way, do you guys know the story about this castle?" asked Hiccup.

Brick and I shook our heads but Erza, Blossom and Astrid nodded. "Of course we know," said Astrid. "It's practically become storytelling legend since you became chief, Hiccup."

"Do remember that that Jodha used to be part of our guild," added Erza. "Natsu's still not happy about her being killed. And he's still not letting Meena go out on a job alone because of it."

"Wait," I put my hand in a _time-out _gesture. "Who the heck is Meena? And how in the world is Natsu Dragneel, _a freaking Dragon Slayer, _involved with this?"

"He has more of a connection with Jodha than the rest of us in the guild. Meena is Jodha Randall's daughter."

_Jodha had a daughter?_ Well, that explained the 'former princess' part. Subha definitely had a weird family tree. "But that still doesn't answer my question. What does the one and only Salamander have to do with all of this? We all know that he had..._oh."_

"Yup," confirmed Astrid, "Meena is actually his goddaughter, in contrary to your time's legend."

"But one of the reason why almost everybody thinks that Meena Randall was Natsu's daughter is because Jodha's history had faded over time," said Blossom. "That is, Jodha is still remembered as one of the most powerful multi magic type user, but how she died and what happened to her shortly before her death sorta faded away into mystery. Binns only ever taught us about Jodha through her time in Fairy Tail as an S-Class mage. In fact," she added as she held up her book for emphasis, "this book gave far more information than Binns' lectures ever did."

"Well, I have no idea on Jodha's history," said Brick. "Care to read about her legend?"

"Well, if you even bothered to listen-"

"Guys, please don't start this," I moaned. "And Blossom, Brick was in the hospital wing sick when we went over the history of Jodha Randall. And even then, it was really, really, vague."

"Then how the hell did he even pass the bloody exam?!" Blossom cried out. "At least quarter of the stupid thing last year was about Fairy Tail!"

Erza, Hiccup and Astrid in the meantime, just stared at us in amusement, not exactly sure what to make of it.

"...Honestly...I never thought that Fairy Tail would become famous enough for magic schools to learn about us..." Erza trailed off. A sweat drop seemed to appear at side of her head.

"Oh, does anyone know that Jodha used to have a dragon?" asked Hiccup. "A Night Fury, to be exact. Her name was Nicolette, but only Jodha was allowed to called her Nikki."

Everybody shook their heads, including Erza. Hiccup and Astrid shared a glance like they were afraid to tell us something.

"We never knew that Jodha had a Night Fury as a companion," said Erza. "When did you see her with such a dragon?"

"Uh...you probably don't know this but during the seven years when you disappeared, Jodha came to visit us before she got married off to the Randall family in England," said Astrid. "Hiccup, coincidentally, was looking for more Night Furies again and Jodha agreed to help him. Two days later, they found only one...who happened to be Toothless' twin sister."

Everybody was dead silent when Astrid said this shocking piece of information. Yup. Subha's family tree was definitely screwed up. First off, she related to an ancient princess. That's shocking enough. Next, she's somewhat related to Natsu Dragneel. I sighed and raised an eyebrow, but I definitely didn't regret meeting Subha, even though her family tree and her powers never completely wrapped around my head.

"She-she got a dragon as a pet while we were still on Tenrou Island?" stammered Erza. "We all found out that Jodha got married but-"

"I think it's time that Blossom reads that book of hers," I cut across her. That may have been a grave mistake on my part but at that point, things were getting so confusing that I was actually up for a bit of story time. "That book may have all the answers that we desperately need."

Blossom sighed in relief. "Zack Martin, I thought that you would never ask." She glanced around, daring anyone to object. She then opened up to a page in the book and started to read:

_"Jodha Randall, a former Mughal Princess, was born to King Duryan and Queen Anne in Indraprastha, (now known as New Delhi). As a child, she exhibited great talent for controlling the six elements of earth, fire, water, air, ice and lightning. See-"_

"Just like Subha," Brick intervened. Blossom glared at him as he added, "What? Just stating a similarity."

"Yeah, I can see that," Blossom retorted. "It's part of the reason why we're here, you idiot." She rolled her eyes and continued:

_"Seeing great potential, her mother secretly trained her to use her gift properly. But her disapproving father found out and exiled the mother and daughter, leaving her younger brother in line for the throne. They moved back to England, where Anne married another man and Jodha spent half of her childhood with her half brother Clow Reed and adopted sister Nikita Ranjistani. The family later moved to Magnolia, one of the central cities in Fiore, Italy, where Jodha joined Fairy Tail, one of Fiore's most strongest guilds, at the age of ten. "_

"According to the guild, Jodha moved back to England with her family when most of us were stuck on Tenrou Island," Erza mused. "She never came back after that, and a few years after they found us, we all found out that Jodha had gotten married, died a year after she gave birth to Meena and that Natsu was her godfather."

"Yeah, the book later explains how she met the Night Fury that Hiccup and Astrid mentioned as well." Blossom handed her the book. Erza flipped through it with a surprised expression.

"This is pretty accurate, as far as Jodha's history goes," confirmed Erza. She faced Blossom. "Where did you get this?"

"I got it at a place where we get all of our school supplies...Diagon Alley. Here's another thing: the book also says that the Night Fury-"

She suddenly stopped speaking as we heard a strange roar. The weirdest thing was that along with it, with the huge empty castle, it felt like chains were clanking everywhere when it could very well be one place.

_"SEARCH THE AREA!"_ a shrill voice shrieked, _"I WANT THAT NECKLACE!"_

"What did I just hear?!" Erza said murderously. Her facial expressions, which were smiling and mature, had suddenly turned demonic. I wanted to crawl into a hole when I saw her face change. That's when I realized that Erza Scarlet is the last person I wanted to be enemies with. Hell, she kinda looked like Subha whenever she planned to blast Malfoy out of the classroom. The more I thought about it, Subha and Erza were a lot alike, in terms of looking downright satanic. Except with Subha, you can at least know that she's angry when her eye color turns amber but honestly, its not like you could tell the difference.

Blossom and Brick on the other hand, I didn't know what their problem but a minute later, they shared a glance with an annoyance. I don't think it was directed at each other though. For once.

"Blossom, Brick, are you two alright?" a concerned Astrid asked. The two of them shook their heads as Stormfly and Toothless started snarling. The dragons simply got in front of us and looked over the terrace suspiciously.

"What's their problem?" I asked Hiccup and Astrid as I pointed at Toothless and Stormfly.

"Oh, that? That's just the dragons being protective," said Hiccup. "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Okay, but..." I trailed off, glancing at Blossom and Brick, "What's your guys' deal?"

"Princess Morbucks," muttered Blossom.

"Oh great," said Brick, looking equally annoyed. "I thought I got rid of her last year."

"Sorry, Brick, but you'll never be able to get rid of Morbucks. Trust me, we've tried."

Sharing a confused glance with Erza, Hiccup and Astrid, we asked, "Who the hell is Princess Morbucks?"

"Just the most annoying spoiled brat we ever come across," said Brick.

"Honestly, the only thing me and Brick will agree on is that Princess is a bitch," agreed Blossom.

Brick and I slowly turned our heads towards Blossom with a questioning look.

"What?!" she cried out at our shocked expressions. Then she groaned. "Come on, I'm not five years old anymore. Let's just go and kick her butt." She grabbed her jacket that she was sitting on and stormed off towards the entrance of the terrace, fuming.

Brick faced Erza. "I thought that the castle had a spell that prevented people without magic from entering this part of the castle."

Erza looked stunned. "It did. It still does. However, I think that as the years went by, the spell has weakened and allowed...certain people to take advantage of it."

"Well, then I wouldn't be surprised that Princess would be in any part of the castle then," he snarled as he proceeded to storm out of the terrace as well, possibly following Blossom.

And I, in the meantime, had definitely had enough of the weird and vague things that I'd heard in the last couple of minutes. So I simply shrugged and the rest of us followed suit.

* * *

><p>Erza, Hiccup, Astrid and I followed Blossom and Brick as they continued to storm towards the screaming and yelling.<p>

"Okay, is it me, or is Morbucks grating on my nerves?" Blossom snapped furiously.

"Nope," answered Brick. "And aren't you the one to finish beating her up every time she causes trouble? And...I'm actually kinda curious: what in the world is your history with her?"

"Hasn't Bubbles already ranted about her?"

"Oh, she has. Trust me when I say, when I dated Morbucks over the summer-"

Blossom put her hands over her mouth and puffed her cheeks in disgust. "Oh my god, you dated her?!"

"Don't blame me, I was forced to! Bubbles and Boomer did everything they could but Mojo didn't buy it!"

Blossom smacked her head. "I swear to god, Mojo doesn't even have the least bit of common sense."

"Tell me about it."

The two of them were silent for a minute. All of a sudden, their eyes bugged out of their sockets and the both of them crossed their arms, turning their heads away from each other.

"Well then," I said dryly, "Looks like we're all going to be dealing with one angry ex-girlfriend."

"Oh, that's just great," Hiccup responded sarcastically.

"By the looks of it, Princess sounds like she's-" Astrid started to say.

"-a witch?" finished Erza. "A wrench? Spoiled bastard?"

"I was gonna say _'not pleasant'_. But any of those would work as well."

"I'm with Erza," said Blossom. "I'll take all of those. When Bubbles, Buttercup and I first met her, she wasn't exactly warm and kind to begin with."

"How is it that I ended up with the craziest bunch in the world?" I asked them. "Today was supposed to be me trying to get those two to get along and here I am, trying to find an ancient necklace for my best friend."

"Oh?" asked Erza. "Your best friend?"

"Yeah. Didn't we tell you earlier that the reason why we're here is because of Subha?" I took out the picture that we took last year at Hogwarts that consisted of me, Subha, and Cody and gave it to Erza to look at. Her eyes widened immediately.

"I...she looks just like Jodha!" she exclaimed.

"Let me see," said Hiccup. Leaning in, his eyes widened. "Oh wow. I can see why you guys are a bit suspicious."

"The problem is that Subha doesn't even know about it," I explained. "By the way, Jodha's pendant...is that the reason why that Morbucks girl is here?"

"I wish I could say that it's a possibility," Blossom grumbled, "if I knew how she found out. Even if she found Diagon Alley, the shopkeeper at Flourish and Blotts said that the copy I have was the only one in the shop."

Before Blossom could say anything else, the exact same roar came out with all the yelling. That's when Hiccup cried out: "I'd know that cry anywhere! It's the sound of a Night Fury!"

"But...that's impossible!" I stammered out. "Even you and Blossom said that they were really rare!"

"And with that said," said Erza, "The only Night Fury we know is Toothless, who is with us right now." She gestured to Toothless, who had been snarling since the minute we started following the screams and roars.

"Guys, I'm telling you-" Hiccup started to say but Astrid intervened by saying: "Hey, did anyone see Blossom leave?"

Startled, we all looked around to find Blossom nowhere in sight.

"Oh, that idiot," Brick groaned. "You gotta be kidding me."

He started floating in the air for a few seconds and then flew towards the sounds, swearing loudly as Hiccup pointed at Brick like and gave me a look like _How the heck can he do that_. "Um...how can he do that?"

I shrugged and said: "They were born with it. Not all of us are superheroes." I ran after the two with the three following suit. When we finally caught up to them, gawking at an entrance...let's just say that I expected something else.

The room was huge. The ceiling was as high as a twenty foot building, the walls were covered in pink (something tells me that the walls were painted recently), and the windows were covered in wilted roses. And when I mean wilted, I mean _wilted_. They were all a dark shade of brown and the thorns were clearly visible, looking sharp as nails.

"What the hell is up with the roses?" I asked. "Like, this is not normal..."

"You think we don't know that?" said Brick, rolling his eyes exasperatedly. I countered his eye roll with my own and a facepalm.

"The roses are magic," informed Blossom. Her voice, more or less, had turned into a whisper. "They're made to last forever. They only bloom when the purest of heart are near them. And Princess isn't exactly 'pure of heart' material."

"I remember when Jodha mentioned something like this," Erza mused. "Before she and her mother were exiled, her castle apparently had a garden full of these. The blossomed fully whenever they entered but slowly started to fade over the years whenever her dad entered."

"Anyway..." said Blossom. "Nicolette should have chased her away though...something's up."

We all gave her a confused look. "What do you mean by that, Blossom?" Erza asked in a troubled tone.

"What I was trying to tell you before we heard Princess screaming was that the Night Fury that Jodha and Hiccup found...um..." Blossom twirled one of her hair stands, trying to find the right words, "...it's still alive."

Our jaws dropped to the floor. "That Night Fury is still alive?!" I yelled. "How?!"

Toothless' growling grew even louder as the sound of a dragon rang through the room.

"Well, might as well see where it's coming from," said Brick as he shuffled his way backwards inside.

"Brick, what are you-" Blossom started to hiss but stopped and stared at him when he stepped inside. "What the hell..."

"Come on, Utonium. My soul's already a swirling tornado of black. I don't think that me stepping in will change anything."

Confused as to why Blossom was slack-jawed, we all peered behind him. My eyes bulged out as I saw the roses blooming slightly, the brown shade being replaced with dark red and the thorns literally shrunk until they were barely visible.

Here's the thing: I knew why Blossom was worried. With Blossom and Brick's rocky history, Erza would have had a sword down Brick's throat if the roses didn't bloom for him. But while it was surprising for Blossom, I kind of expected this to happen. Even without anybody's interference, the Boys have started to get along with the girls. Mojo and HIM created the Boys to destroy the Powerpuff Girls. What he said to Blossom still rung in my brain: _"Things change, Blossom. I think you, of all people know that."_

And I'll be the first to admit that he had a point.

Erza eyed him and our reactions for a few seconds. Letting out a small chuckle, she said to Brick as she pointed behind him: "Don't look now but I believe that your heart is starting to change for the better."

"What?" Brick raised an eyebrow at her, turned around and jumped high in the air. Blossom doubled over in laughter as he yelled, "Holy shit!"

"Surprised?" Hiccup asked as he pulled Brick back to the ground and patted him on the back.

"Um..._yeah!"_

"I thought that you said things change," Blossom smirked at him.

"I meant _events_," countered Brick with a grumble, "not _personalities_."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking." She punched him on the arm as she gave him a genuine smile. "Personalities can change as well, you big lug."

Rubbing his arm, he returned the smile. I couldn't help but notice that this punch seemed way more friendly than the other ones they have both been giving each other over the past few years. Also, have those two ever smiled (genuinely) at each other? Either way, I decided to have a little fun with this. Putting my fingers to my mouth and gasping mockingly, I said, "Oh no! Are Blossom and Brick...actually getting along?!"

Blossom sighed. "I honestly couldn't care less at this point. It's making me exhausted. What's the point in fighting these days?"

"Yeah," said Brick, "We were five when we were beating each other up. I think it's about time we just put everything behind us. You're not so bad every once in a while anyway, Utonium."

_Oh gee, ya think?! _my mind internally screamed at them, _That's probably what your brothers and sisters were trying to say this whole bloody time!_

I sighed in relief. "Thank god you more or less figured it out. Now...about that roar..."

We all stepped inside and the roses bloomed even more as all of us walked a few steps further. The roaring stopped abruptly. That's when Toothless also stopped snarling and started sniffing the air. His ears perking up, he ran past me over to a wall with no door whatsoever but started scratching the wall. Hiccup and I went over to him and that's when all hell broke loose.

The minute we reached Toothless, he started snarling again before Blossom and Astrid yelled, "Zack, Hiccup, watch out!"

We barely got out of the spot without getting our faces burnt. I had to admit, Toothless was pretty fast, considering that he got two people out of an explosive blast. Looking at where we last stood, there was a huge gaping hole in the wall with black soot covering at least eight feet of the floor, just inches away from us.

"What the freaking hell was that?!" Astrid cried out. She got out a battle axe and looked around suspiciously for anymore disturbances. Stormfly was behind her back, the spikes on her tail ready to fly.

"Brick, Zack, get your wands out," Blossom ordered. We got them out immediately as I also whipped out my air staff.

"How in the world can you do that?" Erza pointed at my staff created literally out of air.

I laughed nervously. "Um...did I mention that Subha gave me and some of her friends an element to control?"

A sword materialized out of nowhere into Erza's hands. "Hmm. Well, it looks like I'm not going to learn about you all at once, am I?"

I smirked. "I think I could say the same about you, Scarlet."

As if on cue, a loud cackle echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls. "You honestly thought that you can find me? WELL THINK AGAIN! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Princess!" Blossom yelled at the top of her lungs, "Show yourself or I swear I'll find you and murder you!"

"Oh, like you could do that to begin with," a voice sneered at her. In the corner, I saw a shadowy figure waltz her way out of the dark. The roses, I noticed, deteriorated slightly as she slowly came into view. And I could see why Blossom and Brick hated her almost immediately.

She wore a suit that was similar to Blossom's shirt, except Princess Morbucks's shirt was striped yellow in contrast to hot pink. She also wore high heels that a fourteen year old probably shouldn't be wearing. She had the typical rich girl look with her orange hair in a braid but unlike Subha, Tomoyo and London Tipton, she had a rude look in her black eyes that pretty much tried to ward off any type of company. And when she spoke, it was very high pitched. It was like listening to Cody's singing in the shower and that is the last thing you want to hear unless you want a grave with your name written on it.

"What do you think, Blossom?" Princess sashayed towards Blossom, laughing cruelly in seeming victory. God, even her laugh was annoying. "I think we all know who wore the better outfit to this-" she mockingly sighed, "-to this oh so _fateful_ gathering."

Blossom laughed sardonically and rolled her eyes. "Is clothes and fashion all you care about now?"

"Isn't that all she ever cared about other than money?" Brick huffed.

Princess struck a pose that even Victoria Spice would call an eye sore and shot a death glare at Brick. "Well, I don't see you asking me to take you back."

Brick glared at her with an annoyance that simply said, _I'm done with your bullshit. _"Beg you to take me back?! Please! You have no idea how freaking happy I was when you broke up with me. I'd rather have a cannon go through my head than be forced to date you again."

Hiccup and I were watching this entire exchange with our mouths open. Astrid had her mouth covered up with her hands, trying to hold in laughter. Erza also had her mouth covered, except for different reasons.

"Dude..." Hiccup managed to say, "crashing into your ex is one thing but-"

"You don't know her like I do," Brick interrupted. Glancing at Blossom, he added, "or we, for that matter."

Unfortunately for Brick, Princess noticed this immediately. "So you and know-it-all Blossom are a thing now?"

_Ha, _I thought._ I wish that was the case. _Princess's comment had Blossom and Brick both turning red, glaring murderously at her. That's when I decided to speak up.

"I know for a matter of fact that they aren't dating. And I can obviously tell that you have something to do with the disappearance of Nicolette."

"You know very well what Zack is trying to say, Morbucks," snarled Blossom.

"I think that it's in your best interest to spill," said Erza. Putting out her arms, she cried out, _"Requip!"_

I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Her body glowed brightly for a minute, later revealing an black armor, which sported some silver trimming with a pair of wings, which kinda reminded me of a Dragon and a bat put together. Around her neck was a neck guard decorated by several gems, and finally, her long scarlet hair was tied up in a high ponytail, with two bangs framing her face. Her large shoulder pads, each composed of two silver-edged plates one over the other, had silver crosses on them and flanked the high collar, which was eerily similar to that of a dress. It had to be her Black Wing Armor.

I actually lost focus on the situation at hand for a minute. It looked just plain badass.

"Like I asked a minute ago," she continued, which brought me back to earth, "Spill. _Now."_

"And what if I don't?" Princess retorted.

"You want a sword down your throat? Cause right now, considering the circumstances-" she glanced at the painted walls with a look of disgust. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she continued, "-I'm not in the mood for games."

Fear flicked across Princess's face but went away as quickly as it came. She then jumped onto a huge grand chair covered in gold. (That's when I realized that we were in the throne room.) Pressing something on the handle of the throne, a wall on her right opened up to reveal a Night Fury in chains. I could tell that the dragon was a female by her eye color. Her pupils were glowing lavender literally.

"Oh my Gods..." Hiccup trailed off as he discreetly put himself in front of Toothless, who had lost the innocent look and looked downright ferocious. His wings have gone up, ready to fly and his pupils narrowed to a thin vertical line. "How could you...?!"

"Oh, it was rather easy," Princess replied with a wave of her hand. "This stupid thing snuck up on me and-"

"Don't you dare call them stupid!" Hiccup roared angrily. His fists were clenched as to avoid punching her. "You don't know anything about them! You-"

"Hiccup, calm down," Astrid said soothingly as she gripped tightly on his arm. "We'll find a way to get Nicolette out of there."

I glanced at the poor dragon in the chains. For a minute, the dragon turned its eyes towards me. It wasn't even a pleading look but when I returned her glance, something connected. I couldn't explain it. But there was something that Nicolette saw in me that made her give that curious look. There was something in her that reminded me of Subha. I suddenly got a rage in my heart the more I looked at Nicolette in chains. _I had to rescue her._

I put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder and gave scrutinized Princess with pure disgust. With the rage swelling up inside me, it wasn't hard to do. "You really are a bitch, aren't you?"

"You really don't realize the extent I'll go to get what I want, Zack Martin."

I flinched. How did she know my name? Gah, never mind that. Right then, all my focus was getting the dragon out of Princess's reach. I slowly backed up by Erza's side as Princess redirected her attention to Blossom and Brick.

"Erza." I pulled her down by the arm to my height and whispered into her ear: "Distract Princess. I'll find a way to get Nicolette out of those chains."

Erza, at first, looked at me like I was the most craziest person in the world when I told her on how to distract her. Then a minute later, she sighed and gave me a small smile.

"You reminded me of Natsu and Happy when you said that. Oh well. You better hope this works, Martin."

"Yeah," I nodded nervously, "Hopefully."


	11. An Escape in Flight

**_A/N: _****_One slight reminder: when there is more than one POV in a chapter or a different POV, I'll mention the paticular POV. But when it's just Subha, I won't mention the POV. It'll be like the beginning chapters._**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: An Escape in Flight<strong>

_Zack's POV_

I slowly started to shuffle towards Nicolette as Princess kept trying to rile up Blossom. Hiccup stood on the spot, looking furious as hell. I had the plan of Erza attacking Princess when I got the dragon out of the chains but I didn't know how well that would work. Besides, there's the scenario that Princess will turn around and see me nearing Nicolette. It was risky enough. With my wand, I could unlock the chains without using the key that was hanging off Princess's belt but I needed to do it as quietly and quickly as I could. When I got near her however, she immediately backed up with eyes wide open in fear.

"It's okay," I tried to say soothingly, "Hey, it's okay. I'm here to get you outta here."

I stretched out my arm as I tried to calm Nicolette down. I looked at the dragon in the eyes directly and tried to send off signals of not wanting to harm her. With two minutes of no success, I eventually closed my eyes and had my hand outstretched just inches away from her snout. Goddammit, I was running out of time. Either Nicolette trusted me, or Princess had done enough damage for the dragon to not trust anyone. Couldn't blame her really, it was just instincts and logic playing their part. But she needed to realize that if she truly wanted to protect the castle and bite Princess's head off, she had to trust that I was going to get her out of those chains.

"Come one, girl..." I said in a hushed voice with my eyes still closed. "Come on...you can trust me..."

I was mentally praying that my plan would work as planned when I felt Nicolette pushing her snout into my outstretched hand. As I glanced at her warily, she nodded her consent and I immediately got to work. First, I removed the strap that held her mouth closed. I then found the lock and glanced up to see Princess way too focused on Blossom and Brick. From what I been hearing her say so far, the three of them definitely had history. That girl had way too many insecurities. Like, I was literally shocked at the things Princess was calling Blossom. The surprising part was that Blossom herself wasn't punching her senseless. But maybe that's what was making Princess all the more frustrated. Blossom couldn't care less about her opinion.

I found Erza giving me an urgent look as I felt the sudden weight of the lock in my hands. Reminded of the task at hand, I pointed my wand at the lock and said, _"Alohomora."_

The lock popped open. Loudly. Princess turned around at the sound of the lock opening. My thought process at that moment: _Oh shit. This isn't good._

"We're dead," stated Astrid.

"Zack, get away from there!" yelled Hiccup as he got on Toothless. "I'll deal with this."

"Oh, look who's talking," sneered Princess. "Why don't you run along and play with your 'intelligent' dragons?"

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE!" Blossom shouted.

"An ever loving Gronkle has better intelligence than you, Morbucks!" Brick retorted.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Princess took out something that looked like a ray gun. _Hang on a minute. That was a ray gun. How do those things even exist?! Oh yeah. I forgot __I__ was dealing with a psychotic ex-girlfriend._

When she aimed it at me, I jumped out of the way, barely being able to cast a Shield Charm between the shot and Nicolette. I stood up quickly, just as Princess aimed the gun at Erza.

"That could also be said for you!" Erza flew like lightning towards Princess and slashed at her with her sword. The sword, of course, didn't miss it's target because Princess went flying right into the throne. The brat recovered quickly, however, and pointed the gun at Erza again.

_"Protego!"_ I roared, shielding Erza from a potential blast backwards. I send air disks at Princess but she effortlessly dodged them and the disks hit one of the pillars instead, leaving a huge slash on it, almost ready to collapse over our heads. Nicolette looked at me in surprise and then got an inquisitive look in her eyes. Wrenching her gaze from me to the pillars and then back to me, she raised her chained leg and shook it. Glancing back at my air disk floating over my right hand, I suddenly realized what she wanted me to do.

You know, I'm still shocked at how one dragon is able to communicate with just a few facial expressions.

Pretending to aim the disk at Princess, she got ready to deflect the attack. Sending one at Princess, I sent another one aiming at Nicolette's chains, hoping to god that it didn't slice her in half.

"Zack, are you crazy?!" Blossom and Erza screamed.

_Clang._ We all stopped dead in our tracks. Slowly turning around to Nicolette, I was relieved that it didn't slice her in half. It did, however, cut off the chains that held her wings, tail...and legs. In other words, she was completely free.

"Zack, that was bloody brilliant!" Hiccup whooped in delight. "Crazy, but brilliant."

"Yeah, thank the dragon that looks just about ready to murder someone!" I replied.

"Who, you mean Toothless?"

"Nope." I shook my head and pointed at Nicolette, who's lavender eyes had narrowed into slits as her body was in a defensive stance.

Hiccup's face changed from ecstatic to serious again. "Oh. Yeah...we better get outta here." He pulled my arm and headed towards Toothless. "Like, now."

When we both reached Toothless, a ear-splitting roar rung through the room. Our knees fell to the floor as we all covered our ears so that we didn't go deaf. "What the frigging hell?!"

"This is what I meant by, we have to get the hell outta here now!"

"I heard you the first time, Haddock!"

The roaring stopped and everything went deadly silent. We stood up and looked around warily. Nicolette was nowhere to be found and it looked like Morbucks had lost her bearings and was trying to get them back. Serves her right.

"Hang on..." I trailed off. "Where's-"

"Oh, this is not good," said Astrid. "This is so not good."

"She's hiding somewhere," Hiccup whispered.

"We think we figured that out, funnily enough," Erza said dryly.

Astrid looked just about ready to strangle Erza. With Erza turning her back at us as she looked for clues, Astrid crossed her arms and started muttering, "Son of a half troll..."

Brick glanced at Astrid with an eyebrow raised. "What's up with her?"

"She and Erza are..um...on and off friends..." Hiccup struggled to find the right words as he added quietly, "...if those two didn't try to beat each other up from time to time."

Astrid suddenly came up to him and punched his arm. Crossing her arms, she said, "I heard that. First off, Mira's the one I fought with from time to time. Second, that was over eight years ago!"

"Okay, okay," Hiccup put up his hands in the name of truce. "Please don't kill me."

I wish I had the time to say that as well. Because two minutes later, out of nowhere, something picked me up and took me out the window.

"AHHHHHHHH!" I was screaming my head off (and more than I would like to admit, it was slightly girlish) but stopped when I saw what was carrying me. "Nicolette?!"

The Night Fury looked down on me as she purred with a smile on her face. It was kinda adorable. It was like as though she was grateful for the fact that I freed her. She flew up high in the air...and then she suddenly dropped me.

_Huh. I might have been wrong._

"Zack!" I heard Astrid scream.

As if on cue, my body felt solid as the thought of falling to my death started to sink in. Opening my eyes, I found myself on the back of Nicolette. She took a sideways glance at me to see if I was there and then proceeded to fly faster around the ruins. I grabbed her neck because I so did not want to feel the sensation of falling to my death again. Looking at the castle from the sky, it was bloody freaking massive. It was like looking at Hogwarts again, only bigger. Eventually, the screams and yells of Blossom, Brick and Erza fighting Princess faded away into the background as I saw the main bridge that connected the two edges of the abyss start to glow. In fact, the entire castle did. The towers, every visible window, the terraces were all glowing a bright sky blue until it started to crystallize.

"Zack!" Hiccup cried out as he came flying up with Toothless beside me, "Oh gods, are you alright?!"

I waved off the concern. "Yeah, I'm fine." I gestured to the castle. "Why is the castle starting to crystallize?"

"Don't know," said Astrid as she ended up on my right with Stormfly. "Last time we came here, this isn't what we expected."

_Well, that's just great, _I thought to myself. The castle finished crystallizing at one of the west towers. The bridge started glowing again, only this time, it was lavender and it was way too bright for any of us to look at so we had to look way. The glow had a bit of a warmth to it though. It felt like...

"Zack, we can look now," said a voice but it faded away into nothing. I didn't care though. I just wanted to feel that warmth forever. A lot of thoughts came to mind. One of them had me standing in a grassy field with nobody around but a figure standing in front of me. The figure was obviously a girl and she stretched out her hand for me to grab. I wanted to reach for it...until something said, _"Wake up...Zack...wake the hell up..."_

"Oi! Martin!" Hiccup's voice brought me back to earth. _"Oh, for Odin's sake, wake up!"_

Straining to open my eyelids, I saw Erza, Blossom, Brick, Hiccup and Astrid looked over me in concern. I bolted upright as Hiccup shook me awake.

"GAHHH!" I cried out. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" I rubbed my eyes as I asked, "What the hell just happened?!"

Astrid was the first to respond. "When the castle started to glow lavender, you sorta fainted onto Nicolette's back. She got concerned and brought you down here-" She glanced at the dragon, who was with Toothless and Stormfly, watching me with wide eyes. I reached out to pet her snout and she willingly accepted it as she licked me.

"Hey Nicolette," I rubbed her snout in a comforting manner. "Glad to see you're okay." I glanced around, realizing that we were at one of the west towers. I suddenly remembered Princess as we were fighting her earlier. "Hey, what happened to Morbucks?"

"Princess?" Blossom raised her eyebrow at me as though I was joking and pointed at the backdrop of the castle. "That lavender light blasted her out of the castle but kept me, Brick and Erza standing for some reason."

"But that doesn't mean it killed Princess though," said Erza. "It just blasted her off, far, far away from the castle."

"All the way back to Townsville jail, I hope," Brick grumbled with a surly expression and his arms crossed. "Besides...you better take a look at this."

I stood up, a little wobbly from the dream I just had, and walked over to the railing of the tower. But even then, I felt something different about the railing. Something about the entire castle felt different. My first instinct was to look at the bridge. And right when I thought that my day couldn't get any more crazier.

The bridge was shining blue, while the castle looked as good as new. Hell, I think I could even say that it was well, newly built. All the moss that previously covered the towers and windows were completely gone.

"What...how..." I trailed off.

"You have just set off a spell that has been contained for generations," a warm and ghostly voice echoed throughout the castle. "...but concerning the fate of this castle, that's not necessarily a bad thing."

We turned around to see where the voice was coming from. What we didn't expect to see is the ghost standing right behind me. I was petrified. The ghost looked nothing like one at all. It wasn't all gray and white but rather bright and colorful. She had eyes that were blue like an ocean one minute and then black as a starry night sky the next. Her black hair was tied up in a bun with two bangs hanging off at the side of her face. She had an elegance that reminded me eerily of Subha.

"Hello Nikki," said the ghost as she kneeled down, head to head with Nicolette, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you enough company."

Nicolette whimpered as the ghost tried to pet her but her hand went right through her snout. Turning to Erza, she added with a smile, "Erza. Long time, no see."

Erza had her hands over her mouth as tears came running down her face. "Jo-Jodha...is that really you?"

Blossom, Brick and I stared at her with wide eyes. "Say what now?!"

"Really Erza. You think that you would realize your own guildmate." With a teasing eyeroll, the ghost showed her right wrist...which happened to bare a purple Fairy Tail guild mark.

Turning back to me, she said, "Yes. I am Jodha Randall." With a smile, she added, "Just Jodha will simply do."

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><p><strong><em>AN: Do vote and/comment if you liked it! :D_**

**_(You don't have to if you don't want to but the support would mean a lot to me. Thanks!)_**


	12. The Ruby Pendant

**_A/N: T__hink of this and the past 2 to 3 chapters as sort of an arc. XD _**

**_Enjoy!_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: The Ruby Pendant<strong>

_Zack's POV_

I rubbed my eyes to see whether I was still hallucinating or not. I even tried the good old fashioned trick of pinching myself awake.

Ow. No good. What I was seeing was actually happening.

"H-how are...are you still haunting this castle?" I asked, dazed.

Jodha peered at me intensely. It was almost like she was looking straight through me. Just as I was thinking this, her eyes color turned from orange to light brown.

"Hm... I can see why Nikki decided to spare you," Jodha pursued her lips while surveying me up and down. Having Nikki survey me while I was trying to save her was unnerving enough. Having a ghost do it was very surreal. I'm not lying when I say that I was hoping she didn't disintegrate me with those eyes.

Standing stiff as a solider, I stared right back at her with an odd familiar feeling growing inside me. I knew Subha. Whenever she got suspicious, she would always stare at me with her eyes turning orange. Blossom was right. Subha really is Jodha's descendant.

"Um...Jodha?" Hiccup suddenly directed her attention towards him. "Not to sound rude but-"

_"_-what am I doing here?" finished Jodha. "Is that right?"

We all nodded warily. She then put her fingers to her chin, deep in thought and sighed. "It's...bit of a long story..."

I shrugged. "Well, we got all the time we need." Glancing back at Blossom and Brick, I added, "Come on, I'm pretty sure no one's expecting us for a couple of hours."

"I guess..." Blossom trailed off.

"Better than dealing with Mojo tonight," Brick muttered.

"I'm starting to feel sorry for you and your brothers, Brick."

Brick sighed in response and slouched. "You better."

"Okay then,"Jodha pressed her hands together and continued, "The main reason why I'm here right now is because of my pendant."

"What?" Astrid cried out. "People aren't trying to steal it again, are they?"

Jodha nodded regretfully. "Unfortunately. That Morbucks girl you sent flying was one of them. You, Hiccup and the rest of Fairy Tail know that the pendant was a gift from my stepfather and it holds great power. Anyone handling it besides the people that I trusted were often struck by lightning. The pendant was my birthstone, which is a ruby."

"So your birth month is the same as Subha's?" I asked her. Talk about similar. Subha may have more in common with this ghost than I thought. Jodha, in the meantime, gave me a quizzical look. "Er...who is this Subha?"

"Subha Patel," answered Blossom. "It's why we're here to begin with. We thought it might have something to do with her, considering that she shares your looks."

"Not to mention the eye colour change," I said silently under my breath as I felt my face go red.

Jodha raised an eyebrow at me with a slight smirk. "Well, look who's blushing." She rolled her eyes and then proceeded to air-pat my head. (Is that even possible?)

Everyone in the area burst out laughing, even Nikki and Toothless, which was strange. "Anyway...any chance you know what blue means? Her eyes always turn blue whenever she's near me and it's gotten more brighter over the years."

"Zack, you are honestly the most oblivious person I have meet over the years," teased Erza as she rubbed my head. "And considering that I know Natsu, that's saying a lot."

Jodha put her finger to her lips in a "shush" position towards Erza. Facing me, she said, "You'll find out eventually. But first, realize what's in your heart before you do anything."

I crossed my arms and pouted, pretending to look the other way. Jodha gave me that look again and my body returned into a stiff position. She sighed and her expression turned serious. "Okay, I'll get straight to the problem. The necklace is very precious to me but as generations went by, the family became more..."

"Corrupt?" I finished for her.

"Close. But more like...veered off into the wrong path. That is...until Priya's generation was born."

I knew who she meant immediately. "...Priya Patel. Subha's mum..."

"Well, if you know who I'm talking about, there's no need for me to tell you about her life, right?"

I nodded. "Her dad died in a car accident but her mother was killed by You-Know-Who right after her godbrother's parents, which is pretty well known..."

"Hm. Anyway, Priya hid the necklace somewhere in the castle shortly before her death. I unfortunately, have no idea where it is right now, because she put a spell on the pendant to move around whenever someone untrustworthy was around. And given the amount of people trying to steal it over the years, I sorta lost track of where it is."

Blossom scratched her head. "You know, I'm not really surprised about this at all."

So Subha and Harry didn't even know about half of their family tree, which is already complicated to begin with. That's one suspicion crossed off our list. Now concerning the pendant...

"Jodha...what does the pendant do?" I asked. "You never really-"

"It will simply amplify Subha's powers on the whole as a wizard."

I snorted. Like Subha would want to make herself more powerful. One of the main reasons why her closest friends have an element to control (in Ginny's case, two) is because she was hoping that she would grow less powerful.

"But there is a catch. If used too many times, it will drain her magic. If you are going to find and give the pendant to her, warn her of this because when she needs her magic the most, she won't be able to act on the spot."

I nodded firmly. If it meant getting something that belonged to my best friend, then I'm all up for finding it, no matter how long it would take us.

* * *

><p>It's been a week since we encountered Jodha and after Blossom's extensive research on the spells put on the castle, and in addition of not letting anyone know about this, we still have no idea where the pendant is. All we found during the week was a cryptic message stuck on Jodha's old bedroom wall as to where it might be. Even Erza, Hiccup, Astrid and the dragons have been helping us out to no avail and I came close to asking Cody for help out of desperation. But then I came to my senses and realized that he would start teasing me endlessly about finding the pendant for Subha.<p>

"Ugh, this is hopeless!" Blossom cried out. She leaned against the railing of the edge of the bridge and slumped to the ground. "A week later and the only thing we find out about this castle is that the spells are similar to that of Hogwarts."

"Don't forget the bloody note, we still gotta figure out what it means." I waved the folded piece of paper as a reminder. "Besides, were you honestly expecting progress within a week? This castle is ancient as Hogwarts, for crying out loud!"

"Like I said earlier, it could very well be a spell," said Erza. "Why don't you try it out?"

"Yeah, if we knew how to use it. Are we supposed to say by using our wands? Our own magic? How?"

Just then, Hiccup came racing in on Toothless with Nicolette in tow, who came and laid her head on my lap, purring peacefully. At this point, she's gotten completely comfortable with being around me, which would explain why she lets me call her Nikki now. "Hey, has anyone seen Brick come in yet?"

"I don't think he's coming anywhere near the castle today even if he wants to," Blossom replied in a disgruntled tone. "He's stuck with Mojo and his brothers for the day."

"What, again?" asked Astrid with her mouth slightly full with the strawberry cake that Erza apparently made herself. Swallowing a minute later, she added, "Blossom, this is the second time this week."

Blossom sighed. "You think I don't know that, Astrid? Mojo's not a person-"

"-Or monkey," I finished...and then proceeded to sink under Blossom's glare. Seriously, I swear to god, she was freaking scary sometimes.

"...Anyway," she continued, "He's the last person you would want to talk to reasonably."

"Wait." I held up my I hands in protest and pointed at Blossom. "Aren't you the one who would kick his butt in a millisecond?"

"Yeah, except that Bubbles and Boomer are dating and they made us swear that we won't pull out the ray guns under any circumstances." She grunted and added, "Bubbles threatened to pull a contract into the deal if we didn't agree on this rationally."

I started snickering, because as the years went by at Hogwarts, we found more and more just how Bubbles was inheriting Blossom's logical personality. I straight out howled with laughter, which lead to Blossom taking out her wand and pointing it at me very dramatically with an annoyed expression. Which, I'll admit, shut me up effectively.

"Oh," Hiccup commented dryly as he took a slice of cake and sat down beside Astrid. "Then that would explain why I saw Brick with a green monkey an hour ago."

Everyone roared with laughter as we saw Brick flying out to the west edge of the bridge where we were all sitting.

"Oh good," Astrid chirped. "I was starting to think you ditched us."

"Yeah, sorry," he said breathlessly. "I tried to ditch Mojo yesterday but he never let me outta his sight." Once he caught his breath, he turned to Hiccup and gave him a suspicious look. "First, how the heck did you find me?" Then, after glancing down at Toothless and realization dawning on his face, he added, "You know what, don't answer that. Second," he pointed towards the half-eaten two layer cake in the middle, "Is that seriously cake?"

"Yeah, its strawberry cake," Blossom answered with surprise in her voice. "How the hell did you manage to ditch Mojo?"

Brick took a piece and plopped down besides Blossom. A week ago, that's the last thing he would have done. But hey, who said I was complaining?

"Well, it took me an hour," responded Brick, "but I finally managed to get Boomer and Butch to distract Mojo today on the condition that I do the all of the dishes tonight. Anyway, Zack, can you read that little note out loud again?"

My brain quickly jump started and went into overdrive. "Why, did you come up with something?"

"Maybe. But lemme hear the note and decide whether it fits or not."

I opened up the note and started to read:

_"When the doors open and swing about_  
><em>That's when trust is deemed worthy<em>  
><em>W<em>_here the dead lay under the damned earth_  
><em>Is where the rope lies to everlasting magic."<em>

"Well?" quipped Erza. "Does it match?"

"Yeah, it definitely fits," confirmed Brick. "Guys, I thought about this last night and it suddenly came to me that it may be a riddle."

"But Erza said-" Astrid started to say but Brick cut her off.

"I know what Erza said. But really think about it: would a spell really end with those last two lines?"

Erza and I read the note again and I realized that Brick had a point. What spell would end with _the rope lies to everlasting magic?_

"Okay, so we established that it's not a spell," said Hiccup. "Now what?"

"When the doors open and swing about..." I trailed off. "That's when trust is deemed worthy."

_Trust...worthy trust..._

As I thought about that line, my mind wandered off to the beginning of the week, when we first found this castle. I started to rub Nikki's head and me saving her while trying to figure out whether she could trust me or not came fresh into memory. That's when a light bulb went off in my head. "Guys, the first line. What was the first thing we came across when we came here?"

"Princess Morbucks," they chorused.

"Okay, so remember how I was saving Nikki here?" They nodded and I continued, "_The doors open and swing about, that's when you'll find your trust deemed worthy. _Guys, the minute Nikki decided to trust us, that's when the castle crystallized and turned everything brand new!"

The look on everybody's faces was freaking priceless. Astrid started nodding in agreement. "Guys, he's right. If anyone remembers the roses in the throne room, the only time they deteriorated was when Princess stepped in."

"And this line: _W__here the dead lay under the damned earth," _said Erza. "I think I know what that means..." She stood up and walked over to the entrance. I followed suit and grabbed her hand, waking up a startled Nikki in the process, who sat up and gave me a concerned look. "Wait, where are you going?"

Erza gave a knowing glance. "The pendant is at Jodha's grave."

It started to dawn on me and make total sense as Blossom was looking through her research for answers. However, Hiccup and Astrid both gave Erza a look of disbelief.

"But her grave is all the way over in Fiore!" Hiccup protested, gesturing to the sky. "In freaking Italy! I-I don't think that's what it would mean."

"And besides," said Astrid, "Riddles can always have double mean-"

"No, Erza's onto something here," Blossom cut in as she opened her book. Stopping at a page, she pushed the book towards Erza, who let me see the page.

"It says here that a few centuries passed and eventually the grave was moved from the town of Magnolia to her former summer home." I paused before saying, "Right here in this castle."

"Well, let's just take Blossom and Erza's word for it and check it out," said Brick. "However, the only problem is that we don't know where her grave is."

"That," I said confidently as I made an air sphere from my hand, "will be a piece of cake."

The wispy ball glowed brightly as I moved my hand in Erza's direction and dimmed when moved it into the opposite direction.

"Zack, what _is_ that?" asked an astonished Hiccup.

"Oh, this?" The ball continued to glow as I pointed it in Erza's direction. _"This, _is a tracking ball. It can obviously find anything or anyone that you're looking for."

"Oh, so it's like a magic compass?"

"Sorta...yeah."

"Wow," whispered Astrid as she slightly poked the ball.

"Come on," I started walking with Nikki behind me. "Let's find that pendant."

A few minutes pass and we have been turning left, right and we eventually ended up at a random wall with the ball still glowing brighter than ever.

"What the hell..." I shook the ball a little to see if it was broken. Nope. The light never dimmed.

"Great," muttered Brick, "Now what?"

Nikki came up front and started sniffing the wall and then scratching it like a dog.

"What is it, girl?" I asked her. Giving her a pat on the head, I distinguished the compass ball (yeah, that's what I'm calling it, don't judge) and investigated the wall a bit more. I put my hand on it, and the rest of what I did felt like my hand had a mind of its own. My hand started glowing a blinding white as my fingers drew some designs that I later realized were the six elements of fire, earth, water, air, lightning and ice.

"Zack..." Astrid trailed off warily.

"Astrid, honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing right now."

My hand as if on cue, stopped moving. Facing the wall, I saw that I finished drawing the final element: Lightning and from the floor to the ceiling, a gold line appeared that created a tracing of the door that we came across with the arch to the main bridge. We all backed away as it glowed for a second and the outline of the arch became another pathway to another bridge, except that it was covered and the pillars full of roses.

"Oh. My. God." Blossom gaped at me. "Zack, what the hell did you just do?"

"I think I just found the pathway to Jodha's grave," I replied, aghast. I slowly shuffled my way through the covered bridge, staring in awe at the roses blooming as we all came in. With Nikki right beside me, we both sprinted over to the end of the bridge, which I presumed was Jodha's tomb. Even the grave wasn't left alone from the redecorating. The ceiling was stained glass with different colors making a rainbow on the floor. It was definitely more colorful than a normal grave.

"Should we open it?" Blossom asked timidly.

I shrugged. "What do you think, Blossom?"

Astrid came forward. "Let's open it."

We all pushed the lid of the marble casket, the inside reveling a dusty skeleton with a fencing sword by its side. On it's neck, was a diamond shaped ruby with a gold chain. The marble lid crashed onto the floor into a million pieces.

"Well, it's nice to see Jodha in her afterlife as a scary and creepy skeleton," Hiccup said. "Especially after seeing her spirit in person, this is a wonderful surprise."

Erza chuckled. "Even in death, she won't part with her fencing sword."

"You think that would describe Subha?" joked Brick. When I glared at him, he stopped laughing and said, "...too soon?"

I grumbled, gently taking the pendant from the neck. I leaned against the casket and slid down to the ground.

Brick pointed his wand at the marble and said,_"Reparo."_

The pieces of marble went back to it's original state. I examined the pendant closely. I couldn't believe that I was looking at an actual ruby. It glittered in the sunlight shining through the windows.

Hiccup sat down beside me. "Well, we found it. Now what?"

I shrugged. "Give it Subha. That's kinda the obvious next step. But now that I think about it," I gave him a questioning look, "...why did you guys travel to the future? Is something bad going to happen?"

And I was legitimately curious. The reason I asked then and not when we first met is because all that was running through my mind was _Oh my god, I was actually talking to legends. _There's also the fact that I didn't even get the time to form those questions. Princess Morbucks trying to steal the pendant had completely driven them out of my mind.

"Well...uh..." Hiccup stammered and then turned to Astrid and Erza. "Sh-should we tell them?"

"I don't see why not," Erza said.

Hiccup sighed. "The first Fairy Tail master Mavis predicted that...uh...someone was going to steal that necklace."

Blossom, Brick and I looked at them blankly.

"Let me go into more detail," said Erza, "In our time period, Meena still has the pendant with her. So, when First master came up with this prediction, Natsu nearly went ballistic and it took us a while to calm him down before telling him that we'll do something about it."

"So for some reason, Mavis predicted that would happen as well, so she had created a time portal that didn't use Celestial magic," continued Astrid. "And it was shortly before we met you three."

I nodded, understanding the situation. "So now that the pendant's going to go into safe hands..."

"It's time to go back home."

Blossom looked down sadly. "It was fun while it lasted, wasn't it?"

"Zack..." said Erza "I wanted to ask you this question yesterday but I didn't get the time."

I shrugged. "Well, what is it?"

"Considering how long you have known Subha...do you love her? And really think about this."

My mind screeched to a stop and my heart stopped beating for a minute. The pendant nearly went flying out of my hands. "W-wait, wh-what?!"

Hiccup facepalmed. "Erza, yo-you can't just ask those questions out of the blue like that!"

I dismissed it with a wave. "N-no, its o-okay," I mangaged to stammer out, "Just, um, got caught off guard..."

"Aww, look at him, he does love her!" cooed Astrid.

_Do I love Subha?_ I mean, yes, like a sister. Four years ago, that would have been the answer, easy as pie. But now? My mind kept going back to the day of the World Cup. I was constantly blushing around her, and as days passed I kept thinking about her bright blue eyes. Everytime, whenever she was around me...

I must have quiet for more than a few minutes because Erza said, "You know, on second thought, you don't have to say anything. I can figure it out by your expression."

Nikki nudged me and I scratched her head. For some reason I really didn't feel like leaving her alone in this castle. She was like a lovable puppy who didn't know much like Toothless.

"You've really grown attached to her, haven't you?" pondered Blossom.

As Nikki proceeded to lay her head on my lap again, I smiled and answered, "Yeah, maybe I have."

* * *

><p><em>Deep breath in...deep breath out...inhale...exhale...<em>

Well, what else do you do when you're about to tell a girl that you apparently fallen in love with that she's a descendant of an ancient princess who was a part of Fairy Tail? Yesterday, Erza, Astrid and Hiccup closed up the portal that they came from. Well, we didn't see them off but that was the last we saw of them. I kinda missed them to be honest. Hiccup's sarcasm was always fun to listen to, Erza reminded me of Subha in various ways and Astrid was like the most relaxed version of Cody.

I was sitting anxiously on one of the hay stacks at the barn house. I pulled out the pendant and just held in my hand as Subha suddenly appeared in front of me.

"BOO!" she cried out. I nearly shrieked in terror. No, not nearly. I shrieked, period.

"Jesus, Subha! What the hell?!"

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh blimey, you're worse than Cody." Her laughter subsided as she gave me a look of concern.

"Zack, what's wrong? You look terrible."

"Thank you for summing that up," I said in my best Hiccup impression. Subha sat down beside me, wearing her blue _chudi _(or whatever she called it. She wore one every Saturday.)

"Well, that was a weird voice. Where did that come from?"

I laughed nervously. "Um...that ties into what I'm about to tell you." I gulped. God, she looked beautiful. I pulled out the pendant from behind me and gave it to her. Her mock curiosity gave way to wide-eyed astonishment.

"Oh my god...Zack, what is this?"

"That, is your ancestor's pendant." And so I began to tell her about what happened this week. She was especially shocked when I told her about Erza, Hiccup and Astrid.

"W-whoa." Subha held up her hands. "Stop right there. You have the Ring Journal, right?"

"Of course." I held up my right hand, which had my birthstone Aquamarine in the middle. Subha always liked simple designs and surprisingly, they worked out pretty well.

"Okay. Show what happened later instead of telling me or otherwise I'm gonna faint."

I smirked and put the gold chain around her neck. After I fastened the knot, my hands rested there for a minute. I don't know, but I couldn't remove them from her neck. It's like my hands didn't want to be removed, and Subha made no effort to move them. That familiar force came between us again, and as we went closer and closer, and closer...

"Zack-kun, Subha-chan!" a voice shouted. "Where are you two?!"

The both of us jumped and straightened ourselves when Meling popped out from behind the hay stacks. "Kinomoto-san, they're over here."

Sakura's footsteps were heard as she appeared in front of us within seconds. Looking at our current standing, she covered her mouth, blushed like crazy and then proceeded to start laughing.

"BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sakura clutched her stomach as she doubled over in laughter, "If you two wanted to be alone, you could have just said so instead of being all secretive!"

Subha's lips tightened as she leaned back with a smug smile and a raised eyebrow. "You realize that's you and Shaoran in a nutshell?"

That effectively shut Sakura up. She crossed her arms and pouted. "It's all because of _onii-chan..."_

Now it was Subha's turn to start laughing as she went up and wrapped Sakura in a headlock. You know, how sisters act.

_"Hoē!" _Sakura waved her arms rapidly. "Subha-chan!"

"Come on, sis." Subha dragged a headlocked Sakura out of the barn, talking, arguing and playing as usual.

Meiling jumped over the hay stack and landed right beside me. "So what you said was really true? You do realize that Patel-san and Kinomoto-san know as much about Fairy Tail as you and your brother do, right Zack-san?"

"Gah! Of course I know. They grew up listening to stories about them with Ron and Ginny."

"Good. Come on. Cody-san is going to kill you right now if you don't say goodbye to your mum."

"Aww, do I have to?" I whined.

Meling may have been an inch shorter than me, but that didn't stop her from pulling _me _in a headlock and dragging me out the door. "Come on Martin-san. Your mother just wants you guys to be safe."

"Yeah. No kidding..." I trailed off as I let Meiling pull me to say bye to my mum out the door.


	13. Welcome to Fairy Tail!

**_A/N: We're back to Subha's POV! *throws confetti* None of you have no idea on how long I have been waiting to get to this chapter. AHAHAHAHAHAHA THE STRUGGLE IS REAL XD_**

**_Dedication goes to _ Kiki_Milkovich_._**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Welcome to Fairy Tail!<strong>

It was three weeks after the World Cup and people still won't stop talking what happened that night. It was crazy as hell. After we arrived back home, surprisingly enough, Carey Martin was waiting for us at the front porch of the house, screamed at Mr. Martin for a good ten minutes and then proceeded to hug him and the rest of us in relief. Turns out that she wanted to give Zack and Cody a surprise visit the night we were at the event but Mrs. Weasley saw her and told her what happened. Ms. Martin was waiting around like a nervous wreck along with Mrs. Weasley until we came home.

A week after the World Cup, everything died down a bit and settled into a routine for me. Hermione and I often ended up alone together due to the fact that Harry and Ron were playing a mini Quidditch game and Sakura was frantically looking for a present for Shaoran's birthday, so she and Ginny were in Diagon Alley with Mrs Weasley half the time. So today, we found some bicycles lying around in Mr Weasley's garage and asked if we can ride them around the village. He said yes (of course) and an hour later we were walking down a dirt path when Hermione asked me: "The World Cup turned out to be very interesting, don't you think?"

I groaned. "Tell me about it. Who would have known that Eriol was right? Then again, Ginny and I learned pretty quickly not to take them or him lightly."

"But what I don't get though," Hermione started saying, "is how Eriol knew about the Dark Mark. I mean, it just doesn't make sense."

"I don't know, Hermione...I get the feeling that he was talking about something bigger."

"But what could be more bigger than Death Eaters?" Hermione said in an exasperated voice. "What could possibly be more bigger than the return of the Dark Lord?"

"It's not that, Granger! I get the feeling that Eriol's warning has to do more with Hogwarts than the World Cup. Either way, do you think the Dark Mark was a way to get to Harry? Considering the dementors running amok last year..."

Hermione hesitated. "...Plausible, yes but the reasons for that is because they were trying to hunt down Sirius. And Subha, his scar is another thing to consider."

"Oh yeah. Has he told you-"

"That it's been burning for a while, and even wrote to Sirius about it? Yeah, he told me and Ron."

I sighed. Hermione had a point. Harry's scar always burned whenever danger (or Voldemort) was near. Even if the dementors were roaming around Hogwarts last year, it was all so that the ministry could track down Sirius. Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, is a convicted (though innocent) murderer that escaped Azkaban. When Harry told me everything that happened last year while I was visiting them at the hospital wing, I wanted to kick that slimeball of a human being called Wormtail all the way to Africa and then feed him to the dementors for getting my godmother killed. It took Harry and Hermione an entire thirty minutes to keep me from going completely ballistic, while Ron was lying on his bed with his injured leg, staring at me in horror. This was before me and Ron started sending all of the pillows in the hospital wing at each other...with Madame Pomfrey screaming at us for five minutes straight when she found the mess.

He he. Whoops.

"Anyway...where are we headed?" asked Hermione.

"Dunno. I'm actually looking for the place where Zack found the necklace."

"Really, you honestly think that he, Blossom and Brick found it at another castle?"

"From what he showed me from his ring journal, yeah, I'd say that I believe him."

"But-"

"They never lie, Hermione," I said with a bit of finality in my tone. "I made it so that no one can delete what the rings see and record. You can only blur them out temporarily when you want to but you can't delete them. With that said, it was along this path..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're so weird."

I took a small bow. "Why thank you."

After we both stopped laughing, I proccured a fire tracking ball from the palm of my hands. I threw it over to the front of the bikes as it floated away from us.

"Come on!" I got on my bike and started pedaling with Hermione right behind me.

"Subha, wait up!" she cried out. "You're going way too fast!'

"Use those legs, Granger!"

She eventually caught up with me breathing heavily. "Are you mad?"

I roared with laughter. "Now there's a reaction I hear everyday!"

I sped up with glee, following the ball. Turns out learning how to ride a motorbike at the age of six can come in handy. The ball eventually stopped a few feet away from us and disappeared. Stopping where it is vanished, I glanced around to see where the castle was.

"Uh...Subha?" Hermione said warily, pulling up beside my bike.

"Hm?" I got off my bike and faced her. "What is it?"

She pushed my cheek ever so slightly to the left. My eyes suddenly felt like they grew ten times wider than normal as my jaw hit the ground. "Holy shit. We actually found it."

The castle front looked massive. A big moat, the huge doors, it looked like a miniscule version of Hogwarts. The front lake was completly frozen, which was strange for the summer weather. But again, it was exactly like how Zack described it.

"Well?" Hermione glanced at me. "Shall we go in?"

I smirked. "You honestly have to ask?"

"Whoa."

"Well," said Hermione. "Looks like Zack wasn't lying."

The castle was totally...new. The walls were like light blue glass rather than bricks. We headed straight to the main bridge as it glowed lavender. In my eyes, it was like a multicolored castle. The ruby pendant that was hanging from my neck glowed brightly for some reason as we ended up at the edge of the bridge.

"Wait." Hermione stopped me in my tracks. "Where's Nicolette?"

"Oh, Zack took Nikki out for a little bit of a ride. Being cooped up in a castle for centuries can hurt a dragon." I grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her back into the castle.

"Whoa, wait, where are you dragging me?"

"Zack told me that there's a library that used to be Jodha's study. Think of the books that are in that place!" I looked backwards at her and raised an eyebrow. "You _do_ want to see them, right?"

"Well..." She eventually sighed in resignation. "Alright. Lead the way, Patel."

I procured a water tracking sphere this time and let it float to the library.

"Um...didn't you use a fire sphere previously?" asked Hermione as we followed the sphere.

I didn't know how to answer that. I just used whatever element I thought would work best. But knowing Hermione, I tried explaining it the best I could. "The fire one is best one for tracking places, air is best for objects and earth is often best useful for finding people but the water one is best for anything because the element itself is unpredictable. You can use any element for anything but honestly, each element has its strength."

"Oh.."

We eventually reached a french door on the second floor. The bloody castle was like Hogwarts for crying out loud. Pushing it open, it was like I entered a dream. It may be my opinion, but I feel like Hogwarts took some sort of inspration for the design from this castle. The only difference was that Jodha's library was much bigger and grander. There was a sofa on the first floor with an antique brown coffee table and everything.

I glanced at Hermione. "Last one to find five books and reach the sofa is the rotten wizard."

In response, Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're so going to lose."

Thirthy minutes later, we were both at the sofa, looking through the books that we found off the more than dozen bookshelves. I was reading _Hamlet_ (for some reason, I really do love Shakespeare) when at the corner of my eye, I saw a light emitting from one of the bookshelf's passageways.

"Granger..." I trailed off. "Do you see something in one of those bookshelves?"

"Hm?" Hermione, who was engrossed in _The History of Fiore, _glanced up in a daze. "What is it?"

I didn't answer. I headed straight towards the light as I felt her pulling on my arm.

"Subha, what's going on?" Hermione asked me more urgently.

I slowly pointed to the glowing alley between the bookshelves. Hermione's eyes bulged out of their sockets as she noticed it as well.

"I-I don't we should go near it," Hermione stammered out. "After all...it could be potentially danger-"

"But it's so warm though." My voice become a little raspy as I whispered, "Can't you feel it?"

She hesitated. "Of course I can. But still-S-Subha!"

I wasn't listening. I eventually pulled out of her grip and shuffled my way towards the mysterious light. I heard Hermione mutter "what an idiot" as she ended up walking beside me.

"Why do you insist on making things difficult?" she later commented. "You're just like Harry in so many ways these days..."

"Hm. Like brother, like sister," I chuckled. "Or was it the other way around?"

Reaching the lit bookshelf, we noticed a mirror glowing brightly at the end of the pathway, litterally beckoning us to go near it. On my right, I saw something else shining. Stopping and turning around, it was a book. A very thick book that I apparently couldn't remove from the bloody bookshelf. So I just read what it said on the spine.

"H-o-r-c-r-u-x-e-s," I read to myself. _Horcruxes_. There was something unnatural emanating from the title. What the hell did that mean anyway? Before I could ponder on it any further, Hermione dragged me away from the shelf and towards the mirror.

"It looks like some sort of portal," said Hermione. "Heck, I think that it is a portal. Are you sure you want to go in?"

Raising an eyebrow, I replied, "Come on Hermione, you know me. Of course I'm gonna go."

"Alright, I'm coming with you then."

I faced her, slightly shocked. "Say what?"

She shrugged. "Yup. I can't stop you from getting into trouble but hey, someone's gotta keep an eye on you."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh haha." I gestured at the portal. "Lead the way, Granger."

"Will do."

With that, we both stepped in. I closed my eyes but felt a floating sensation around me. Me and Hermione were holding hands so that we didn't get seperated. It lasted for only a little bit though. A few seconds later, my face felt solid ground.

"Ow..." I groaned as I got up. My eyes had trouble adjusting to the sunlight for a little bit.

"Um...Subha?" Hermione said forebordingly, "What year are we currently in?"

"August nineteen ninety-fo-"

The reason why I stopped abruptly was because I saw what she meant. I was looking at a pyramid-shaped building with a castle like apperance. Flags flew high on each of the cones...bearing the guild mark of the all too well known Fairy Tail. I was just about ready to faint. What happened next was even more surreal.

"Did we...just travel back in time?!" I asked. I was about to scream but Hermione quickly covered my mouth.

"Don't start screaming. And yes, I think that we did travel back in time. On the bright side, we're right next to the portal. We can just slowly back-"

I removed her hand from my mouth. "How the bleeding hell are you calm at a time like this?!" I hissed.

"Please, I've dealt with things weirder than th-"

_"MEENA!"_

The both of us became rigid as two people came running towards us. The last thing I expected was for a man with salmon colored hair to straight up start hugging me like it was the end of the world with a blonde running beside him yelling, "Natsu, are you crazy?!"

"AHHHHH!" Looking from the corner of my eye, I saw who those two people were.

"Natsu Dragneel..." said Hermione as she pointed at the guy hugging me to the blonde behind him. "And...Lucy Heartfilia. Okay, on second thought, maybe I haven't seen weirder things than this."

"Eh?" The guy who was hugging me let go and stared at Hermione while I tried to get my bearings and sanity back. A more closer inspection of him, I could see Hermione was right. In addition to his salmon hair, he wore a black jacket with only one sleeve, the other arm showcasing his red Fairy Tail mark, which was a fairy with a tail. He had a scale patterned scarf wrapped around his neck. Pointing at Hermione, he faced me and asked, "Meena, who is that? And where's Asuka?"

"Say what now?!" Hermione and I replied.

Lucy Heartfilia face palmed and groaned. "I'm really sorry about Natsu here. One of his daughters just went on her first job two days ago so he's been a tiny bit of a nervous wreck since then."

I jumped as I registered what Lucy said. _Daughter? _When Zack told me about Erza, Hiccup and Astrid, he also told me something about a certain Fire Dragon Slayer who was Jodha's daughter's godfather. As if on cue, a voice said behind us: "Dad...what in the ever loving world are you doing?"

Turning around, I immediately felt like I was looking at a mirror. The wavy black hair, sea-green eyes, light-brown complexion and everything. _Oh my effing God._

And that's when everything went black.

_"Subha...Subha, wake up..."_

My eyes struggled to open as I felt water being splattered on my face. The minute I opened them, the first thing I saw was a blue wide-eyed creature starting me down to the point where his nose (I think it was a "he") was touching mine.

My first reaction: I screamed and threw the cat-like creature from my face and bolted upright, breathing heavily.

"Na-Natsu...I th-think she's awake," the creature stammered from where I had thrown him, into what looks like a mini bar. At that mini bar, a beautiful white-haired woman with a ponytail at the front gave me a look of concern and came up to me with a steaming cup. That's when I realized that one, the girl was none other than Mirajane Strauss and two, I was sitting on a wooden picnic like table. It took all my willpower to not faint again. _This was actually happening..._

"Oi," someone poked me on my left and I found Hermione standing worriedly. "You alright?"

I rubbed my head and felt a small bump at the back. "How bad was it?"

"Not too bad," a voice answered on my right. "But to be honest, you gave me quite a shock as well."

Turning around, it was that twin of mine. She held out her hand, waiting for me to shake it. "Name's Meena Randall, by the way. Hermione here explained everything, so don't worry about that. Dad, on the other hand..." she sighed in annoyance and glanced behind me. I got off the table and saw Natsu Dragneel arguing with a black haired man with almost no clothes on.

"Please don't tell me that's Gray Fullbuster," I said as I pointed at the shirtless guy. Meena nodded regretfully. Well, it looked like the stories were true so far.

"So..." said Meena. "I'm basically one of your ancestors." When I nodded, she continued, "Well, this day just got..."

"Surreal?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

After a minute of silence, the three of us started laughing like we were the best of friends.

"Meena..." a much younger voice trailed off, which came from a pink haired girl with brown eyes tugging on her shirt.

"What is it, Nashi?" Meena asked gently.

"Mum wants help in stopping Dad and Gray from fighting again."

Meena sighed. "Uh, I'll be right back," she apologized and walked over to Natsu and Gray. "Dad, Gray, the both of you are driving me and Luce insane!"

The brown eyed blonde plopped down beside me in fatigue. "Honestly...Natsu is such a kid sometimes. But then again, so are our daughters." She then smiled at us and held out her hand. "I think that it's time that we meet properly. I'm Lucy."

After shaking hands, we watched Meena separate her godfather and Gray from each other. I wish I had popcorn. This was too good not to watch without it. As I was thinking this, Mirajane brought some in a bowl and two cups of milk on a tray.

"Here's something to eat," said Mirajane as she placed them on the table. "My name's Mirajane but just call me Mira."

It was hard to believe that Mirajane Strauss was this beautiful, fragile-looking and sweet person when history and legends remember her as a powerful S-Class wizard who used demonic Take-Over magic. But then again, I know Bubbles and however sweet and innocent she may be, she can still kick some arse when pushed to her limits. I suspected that it was the same case with Mira. Either way, the blue cat I threw across the room was floating alongside Mira. Apparently, cats now have wings.

"Um...I'm really sorry...uh..."

"Happy's the name," answered the cat. "And that hurt. But it's okay."

"Wait, what?" Hermione burst into a fit of giggles. "Your name is _Happy?"_

Happy nodded. "I have no idea why the guild named me that, but I know that it's something that they keep in their hearts."

"Are you an Exceed, by any chance?"

Mira nodded. "Yeah, he is. How did you know that?"

"I read about it back in Jodha's library."

Mira smiled widely and giggled. "That honestly does not surprise me at all."

I grabbed some popcorn and watched everything being unveiled in front of me. We also got to meet the water wizard, Juvia Locksar, who reminded me ever so slightly of Ginny during her first year at Hogwarts. The blue haired wizard even taught me a couple of slick combat spells I can do with water.

Levy McGarden was definitely the Fairy Tail version of Hermione. Like literally, those two sat down for about thirty minutes disscusing about various types of magic. Gray was ironically Harry with an apparent stripping habit (honestly, is there such a thing?) Lisanna and Elfman Strauss were the equivalent of the Weasleys. And finally, about two hours later...

"There was an open time portal?!" Erza Scarlet blurted out. The redhead looked like she was about to pass out. "Bu-but I thought that we closed it!"

I shrugged. "So did Zack, Blossom and Brick but...speaking of which, how many times did Zack goof off whenever he was around you guys?"

"Eh?" Erza stared at me as though I was off my rocker. "The only thing that was on his mind when we found the pendant was you."

I went red as Lucy started snickering and Hermione raised her eyebrows at me with a wide smile.

"Oh shut up." I punched Hermione's shoulder lightly. That's when she couldn't hold it anymore and straight out roared with laughter alongside Lucy.

"Oh well." Erza got up and walked away.

"Erza, where are you going?" Wendy Marvell asked timidly. The Sky Dragon Slayer was kind of a little cutie. Her dark blue hair was in two ponytails and had wide eyes that could probably melt you in seconds if she wanted something.

Erza turned around. "I have to tell Hiccup and Astrid about this."

"Can I come with you as well? I want to send a letter to Gobber."

"Sure, why not?" They both walked to the back of the guild. Meanwhile, Meena joined us with a disgruntled Natsu and an adorable Nashi in tow.

"Meena, what happened?" asked Juvia. Meena sighed and pointed at Natsu and then back at Gray in response. Pulling Nashi up on her lap, she said, "Gezz, Luce, I never knew how hard you had it."

"Well, it's not as hard," Lucy replied, rubbing Meena's hair, who smiled in return. "Your father is an idiot."

Natsu pouted as he waved his fists. "What?!"

"Calm down, Natsu. Its only the bloody truth."

"Fine," said Natsu. "Come on, Meena, Nashi."

"Seriously, Dad?" the two sisters said in unision. "It's like only 8'o clock."

"Now," Natsu said in an annoyed tone. "We still need to make dinner."

Meena put Nashi on her shoulders. "Alright, we're coming, jezz." Glancing up, she said, "You ready, Nashi?"

Nashi pumped her fists in response. "Come on, Meena, get going already!"

"I'll take that as a yes." She raced out the guild entrance as Natsu and Happy the Exceed ran after them. The entire guild looked on knowingly for a minute or two.

"The two of them may not be blood-related," commented Lucy, "But they're as close as they can get."

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Hermione.

Lucy's expression went from bubbly to slightly sorrowful. Her hands clenched the bottom of her skirt, which I assumed was to keep herself from crying. "Well, you see...Meena's parents died when she was only a baby. Her father died in a carriage accident and Jodha...was killed by her own father.

After Jodha died, her half sister Nikita brought Meena here to live with Natsu fourteen years ago. Apparently, Jodha had designated Natsu as her godfather and Meena's been living with him ever since. A few more years passed, Natsu and I got married and Nashi was born." She chuckled as she added, "Having lost my parents when I was only sixteen, it was a while before I felt like I had a family again. Fairy Tail is a different kind of family altogether but...it wasn't the same."

Hermione and I were deadly silent. We both shared a glance that told me that our thoughts were on the same page. Meena's life story basically described how Harry's life would have been like hadn't Sirius been framed. Like their stories were almost eerily similar. It made me realize all of a sudden just how tragic Harry's situation really was. Meena got to know her godfather. Harry never even got the bloody opportunity. Meena grew up with a loving family. Harry on the other hand, got the worst relatives the world could offer.

"Life's really cruel, isn't it?" I said bitterly. "Our loved ones are taken from us when we need them the most. So," I sighed and mentally counted to five so that I didn't have a mental breakdown, "...does Nashi have any ide-"

Lucy shook her head. "I'm afraid what will happen when she finds out."

Hermione gave Lucy a shoulder squeeze. "Lucy, I don't think you have anything to worry about. If those two are really close, then I don't think that it'll matter to Nashi whether Meena is her blood sister or not."

"And besides," I added, "Family can be anyone, Luce. Isn't that Fairy Tail to begin with? I think that all Nashi will see is her older sister Meena and nothing will change that."

Lucy wiped a tear from her eye and pulled us both into a headlock. "Oooh! Even though we have known you for a couple of hours, I have a feeling that this is a start of a beautiful friendship."

And Lucy was right. I didn't know it then but it was also the year where I had gained another huge family.


	14. The Hogwarts Express

**Chapter 12: The Hogwarts Express**

The remaining days of August went by faster than I could count. They eventually settled into another routine that involved Fairy Tail.

Yeah, turns out that the time portal wasn't affecting anything and according to Master Makarov, Fairy Tail's third generation master, we could come and go as we please as long as the future or the past didn't change dramatically. It was also potentially dangerous, and I had Hermione lecturing me for an hour on how dangerous it can be. So we both decided to keep this entire thing between ourselves for two reasons: one was because of the danger of the open portal and two was considering how _I_ fainted the first time, Ron, Ginny and Sakura probably wouldn't take it as well as Hermione did.

But I won't lie, it was hard. Ginny and Sakura are my best friends. They knew my deepest, darkest secrets including the pendant. But I think this was the year where we started to keep secrets from each other because Ginny and I were still confused about telling Sakura about how _her_ mum really died (no thanks to Eriol) and me keeping the fact about why Princess was really on our tails under the barrel of secrets that I knew was going to pile up as the years go by.

"Eh? You guys have school tomorrow?" said Natsu, eating a turkey leg. It was the day before we had to get onto the Hogwarts Express and we decided to give the guys a visit. "Will you still be able to visit?"

"Natsu, they'll probably have their hands full of schoolwork," Erza hit Natsu at the side of his head. "Don't be a blockhead."

"We'll probably come by on Saturdays," said Hermione. Leaning towards me, she muttered, "We can hide the portal behind Hagrid's hut."

I jumped. The lemon juice that I was drinking sprayed from my lips, barely missing Natsu, who ducked in time. I really hoped that she was joking. "Granger, have you gone mad?!"

Hermione shrugged in response. "Hey, I learn from the best and two, I have Harry and Ron as my best friends. Anything can happen at this point. Besides, there's a small bush we can hide the portal in."

"I'm not talking about hiding the bloody portal," I hissed, "I'm talking about how the hell you're going to bring it with you!"

"I'll use a Shrinking Charm, shh!"

Even then I kept staring at her with my eyes almost as wide as Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup and my jaw on the floor._ A Shrinking Charm_. Harry and Ron were going to kill me. Their best friend had officially gone bonkers. I sighed and looked around to find Lucy nowhere in sight.

"By the way, where's Lucy?"

"She's out on a job with Meena and Asuka," Natsu replied with his mouth full. "She thought that it's been a while since they spent time together."

Hermione raised an eyebrow curiously. "You're uncharacteristically calm about this."

"Yeah, aren't you the one freaking out everytime Meena is out on a job that takes like two days, max?" I asked.

"The main reason why he's not freaking out is because of the fact that Lucy is with Meena," said Mizushi, Gray and Juvia's fourteen-year old daughter. We all called the blue-haired girl Mizu for short. "Speaking of which, Nashi's with Wendy right now, so she's not going to be dead."

"You're just like your father," Natsu grumbled. "You're always so sarcastic."

"But wouldn't that describe you and Meena?" Mizu filled her voice with saccharine as she blinked her black eyes innocently.

Before those two got into another battle again, we held Mizu back and held her in her seat. "Mizu, we're stressed as is," said Hermione. "Either you don't get into another fight, or we get Juvia."

Mizu rolled her eyes as she and Natsu sent death glares at each other. Like father, like daughter. It was the same case with Meena and Gray. The hilarious and ironic part was that Mizu was one of Meena's best friends.

"So, you and Subha were talking about something called the Quidditch World Cup," said Juvia, sitting beside Mizu. "What in the world is that about?"

"You really want to know?" Hermione and I said in unison. Juvia nodded.

"Long story short, it was a sporting event and something attacked it," I recited quickly. "The end."

"Be a little more specific, Subha," Hermione said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I am being specific. I'm getting straight to the bloody point."

"What the hell is Quidditch?" asked Natsu.

"It's a sport played on brooms," Hermione replied before I could say anything. In response to my grumpy expression, she said, "We're going to be here for an entire two days if I let you talk about Quidditch."

"How is it played?" Mizu asked curiously.

"You guys just woke up the sleeping giant," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

I happily stuck out my tongue out at Hermione and started explaining the rules and the balls used to play the sport. Just as I got to the Golden Snitch, Lucy and Meena came running in soaking wet.

"What happened to you two?" Hermione asked.

The two looked at us like we have gone mad. "Can no one see the thunderstorm outside?!" yelled Lucy as she pointed in the direction she came from.

Just as she said that, the power in the guild went out as a flash of lightning lighted up the guild. Mira lit up a few candles for some extra light.

"Oh, and second," Meena said, shivering as Natsu brought her a blanket, "Me and Luce passed by the portal and saw Harry and Ginny looking for you guys. So you might wanna-"

"Oh shit!" I said as I pushed the strands of hair that were in my face back in stress. "Didn't we promise Ginny that we would help her pack tonight?!"

"If they find this place, we're screwed!" Hermione squealed.

The both of us bolted out the guild, into the storm with Lucy and Juvia carrying an umbrella over us.

* * *

><p>The minute we got on the Hogwarts Express the next day, news about what happened at the World Cup flooded like the Tsunami. Nobody would stop talking about that skull that was cast into the sky. Meanwhile, on the train, we still got suspicious looks from Ron. Hermione and I may have had a close call but he suspected that we were lying about trying to find my pendant. Good god, I hope he didn't tell Cody about this.<p>

"Can I just jump off this train and walk to Hogwarts?" I asked sarcastically. Ginny was sitting opposite of me with Cody while I was unfortunately (not really) sitting beside Zack.

Zack snickered. "What good will that do?"

"For the past month, the freaking World Cup is all everybody's ever been talking about! I get that the Dark Mark is huge stuff but honestly, give it a break! I tried to escape it for an hour and it keeps rebounding back to me!"

The twins gawked at me. "We've been talking about it since our mum left!"

"Theories are different than just talking about it!" I retorted. "Even Juvi-" I stopped myself, because I came this close to revealing Fairy Tail. I then proceeded to mentally smack myself on the head.

"I don't think you're going to escape it anytime soon, Subha," said Ginny. "Trust me, I think Neville's the only one who would be happy that you don't want to mention the World Cup."

I gave Ginny a curious look. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Cody was the first to respond. "He's one of the few people who didn't go to the World Cup. Apparently, his Gran didn't want to go and didn't buy the tickets."

I laughed. I know I shouldn't be laughing but it was funny. On the whole, I really did feel sorry for him. The trolley cart came around as Zack and Cody both got up and went to get some snacks, leaving me and Ginny alone for the time being.

"So, what's our game plan this year?" asked Ginny. She pulled up her legs onto the seat. When I didn't respond, she said, "Oh, come on. Zack and Cody aren't even here right now."

I shrugged. "Same as always. What else can we do?"

"Oh, I don't know, add more spells to the barrier we secretly put around Hogwarts!"

"Gin, we have enough spells! If we put more around, the professors are going to notice!"

Ginny opened her mouth to argue but no words came out. Finally, she just sighed and changed the subject. "Anyway, what do you think when Bill said that we're going have an interesting year?"

"Dad's been saying the same thing ever since he got us dress robes a week ago," said Zack as he and Cody came back into the compartment with various pumpkin pastries and Beanie Botts' Flavored Beans, "It's freaking irritating because-"

"-He won't even tell us what's going on this year!" finished Cody.

"...Yeah, Dad would have put me into Durmstrang-you know how he feels about Dumbledore," a familiar voice drawled. I rolled my eyes. _Draco Malfoy. _Now I truly wanted to jump off the train and walk in the rain.

"Durmstrang?" said Zack in confusion. "What the hell?"

I sighed. I read enough of Hermione's books to know what Malfoy was talking about. "Durmstrang is another Wizarding school in Bulgaria."

"Wait, what?"

"There're other schools in Europe?" said Ginny.

"Yeah," replied Cody. "I'm kinda surprised you didn't know that, Ginny."

Ginny scowled. "Not all of us read about different schools in our free time, Cody."

"Anyway..." I continued in response to Ginny's guilty look that was directed at me, "For those that _do_ read in their spare time, there are many different schools in Europe. Hogwarts is one of the most famous ones, and then there's the Beauxbatons in France and the Durmstrangs in Bulgaria."

"Okay, but even if that's so, how come we don't know about them?" inquired Zack.

"Because their schools are hidden with dozens of spells in fear that other schools will sneak in and find out their secrets."

"But I don't see Hogwarts being hidden like that!"

"Oh, but it is," I said, surprised. "The three schools had a bit of a rivalry going on for centuries now. If any stranger came across Hogwarts, there would be a sign that would say, 'stay out, dangerous.'"

_Hermione, I sincerely thank you for making me read "Hogwarts: A History"._

"Oh, look!" Malfoy had turned around and opened up the compartment door. We all groaned. I was hoping that he would pass by us. "Are all the so-called geniuses actually confused about something? Other than Ron Weasley, you're always dimwits."

My eyes narrowed into slits. I wasn't taking any of Malfoy's bullshit. "Shove off, Malfoy."

Zack looked just about ready to punch Malfoy and his two cronies who were with him, Crabbe and Goyle. Cody pretended to look in the other direction, fuming, while Ginny and I had our wands out, hidden at our sides.

"You know, Patel," said Malfoy, "Had you been sorted into Slytherin, you wouldn't be here sitting with these losers."

I stood up and pointed my wand at him. "If I was, I would've dealt with the likes of you," I said shortly. "So, um, yeah. I'm glad that I don't share a house with a bunch of gits."

Behind him, Crabbe and Goyle started snickering before Malfoy gave them a murderous look. He then took a step closer towards me, which had Zack turning red like a tomato. "If I were you Patel, I wouldn't be talking like this."

I raised an eyebrow in sarcasm. "Oh? And why's that?"

Malfoy pretended to ponder. "Hm...let's see...I know that you're Potter's sister and that you two have another one somewhere in Japan. Do realize that I can get this news out faster than a dementor sucking out your soul."

My insides collapsed and turned into jelly. I froze on the spot, my arms shaking like mad. I nearly dropped my wand in the process. How the hell did he find out about Harry being my brother? No one else knew about this besides the Weasleys, the twins, Hermione and Bailey. If this got out, it was going to mean more trouble for Harry. And don't even get me started on Sakura. _Oh my god Sakura. How the hell is she going to deal with this? _As for me...

This time, everyone in the compartment stood up with their wands pointed at the three Slytherins.

"You wouldn't dare," Ginny hissed.

"Watch me, Weasley," Malfoy said smugly.

"Not on our watch," said Cody.

"I'd suggest you get out," added Zack._ "Now."_

Malfoy still kept his face neutral but his eyes were full-blown in fear. He and his cronies backed up slowly away from the compartment and ran for it. I plopped down shakily onto the seat with my head in my hands. I then felt a soft hand on my shoulder and the next thing I knew, I was sobbing in Ginny's arms throughout the rest of the train ride. Harry, Ron and Hermione later came in to see both Zack and Cody seething and me still crying. It took Ginny about thirty minutes to explain what happened without losing her cool, while Hermione took her turn in holding my messy self.

"I'm going to murder Malfoy," said Harry. He was pacing around in the small compartment frantically. "The first chance I get..."

"Join the club," Zack and Cody chorused.

"He has absolutely no right to that information whatsoever," said Hermione.

"How the bloody hell did that bastard find out to begin with?" Ron asked. "No one knows except us."

"It may have been my fault in the end," I sniffed. "I almost revealed to Cedric's father that me and Harry were related, remember?"

Ron shook his head. "Subha, I don't think it was your fault. I heard Dad telling Mum that he was questioned by Mr Diggory a few days later about that incident. He got suspicious about why it seemed like it was covered up the minute it was mentioned. Dad was forced to tell him what was going on."

_So Mr Diggory did notice my big mouth speaking. _Great. Just effing great. I raised my head from Hermione's shoulder and sunk down low in my seat with a guilty conscience. I was truly an idiot. Yes, I was angry that Harry was accused of performing Dark Magic but even then, it would have been more prudent to keep my bloody mouth zipped. Hermione patted my head sympathetically.

"So you think that Lucius Malfoy heard everything and told Draco?" said Hermione, shocked.

"At this point, anything's plausible," Cody said darkly. "I'm all for Ron's theory."

"We'll keep an eye on the git," said Zack. "See if he does anything."

"Should we ask Seamus for help?"

"Cody, are you mad?!" everyone screamed.

"That kinda loses its point if we tell other people!" said Hermione.

"Relax, we're not gonna tell him!" said Cody. "We'll just ask him if he's willing to keep an eye on Malfoy and see if he's doing anything suspicious."

"Yeah, we're not gonna tell him," countered Zack. "If anything, I'll ask Bailey. We can tell her this without having to keep what happened a secret."

"No, _I'll_ tell her," Cody said as he turned scarlet.

Everyone laughed. "Isn't that always the case with you, mate?" teased Harry.

The train reached Hogwarts within a few minutes. The weather had gotten worse since we last got onto the train. It was way more windy and the rain was pouring harder than ever. The first years traditionally went over to the boats which were manned by Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts.

"Oooh, I'd hate to go into the boats in this weather," said Hermione as we got onto the horseless carriages. "Speaking of which, Subha, I haven't seen your cousins on the train."

"Don't worry about it, Granger. We'll see Jay and Nive once we get over to the school." We filed into the carriages before it rode over towards the castle.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: So I got out a chapter faster than Chewbacca can eat a cake on his birthday. XD I'm on fire this month AHAHAHAHAHA_**

**_I also finished editing the previous chapters a bit, including removing some unnecessary authors notes that I added when I first posted the damn chapters XD Also, I may rewrite this chapter, depending on how the Fairy Tail series plays out._**

**_Don't forget to comment and/or vote and peace out! :D_**


	15. Foreign Visitors and a New Teacher

**_A/N: This story will follow the HP books but in a different way. Like I'll include scenes from the movies and (sort of) write how it could have gone. So forgive me that this is one of those instances because there are some scenes that I would love to go into more detail with Subha's POV XD_**

**_Enjoy!_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 13: Foreign Visitors and a New Teacher<strong>

The Great Hall looked grand and colorful as always. The enchanted roof that made it look like the sky with the floating candles boomed with lightning and thunder. If I didn't have the slight phobia of thunder itself, I would have thought that it was awesome. I would be lying if I didn't say that before we all came in here, we happened to see flying horses with a carriage in the sky, along with a ship coming out, from underneath Black Lake. When we reached the castle, Professor McGonagall was waiting at the front with Flich and Flitwick, who later lead everyone down to the Great Hall under a totally different passage way. Before I could sit down, two people yelled, _"Subha!"_

I turned around to find myself being hugged by two black-haired girls with bright green eyes.

"Jay, Nive!" I said happily. "Where the heck were you two on the train?!"

"We were with Bailey, Seamus and Dean," said Jay. "We thought we'd see you here instead."

I smiled and rubbed their heads. Jay Singh was a third year, while Nive Kumar was going on her second year here and the both of them were in Ravenclaw. I met them during the summer before my second year. I later found out that they were my cousins and got to know the rest of the family better. Yeah, these two came in during two pretty intense years.

"Jaishree Singh and Nivetha Kumar!" Professor McGonagall's sharp voice rang out behind me. "You three can catch up later, now get on to your house tables! The Sorting is about to take place in a few minutes!"

"Yes, Professor," the two replied sheepishly and rushed off to the Ravenclaw table. "See you later, Subha!"

I waved good-bye as I glanced over to Professor McGonagall, who raised one eyebrow, which I took for that I had to take my place as well. I quickly ran over to where Ginny and Hermione were sitting.

"Hey," greeted Hermione. "Got caught by McGonagall again?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh hush up."

Ginny giggled as the first years came in through the doors.

"I swear, is it me, or are the first years getting smaller by the year?" said Seamus Finnigan.

"I'm not the only one!" confirmed Zack, giving Seamus a high five while Cody and Dean sighed in relief.

The first years got sorted into the houses one by one. When the final student got sorted, (Kevin Whitby is a Hufflepuff) Professor Dumbledore stood up with his hands open wide with a welcoming smile and the usual twinkle in his eyes, the chatter ceasing at once to the point where only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.

"I would like to say a few words," Dumbledore's deep, grand voice carried throughtout the Hall, "Now, Mr Flich would like me to remind you that the items forbidden inside the castle this year is on a list, which is in his office if anyone would like to take a look at it."

Ginny and I shared a look and snickered. We all knew that Fred and George's inventions were mostly on that list. We also knew that one stupid list won't stop the two from sneaking in their inventions. _Oh man, they're gonna drive Filch mad this year._

"Also," Professor Dumbledore continued, "It is my duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

My jaw was quite literally on the floor. _No Quidditch? Was Dumbledore crazy?!_

Meanwhile, Harry gasped and shared a glance with Fred and George, both who were too appalled to speak. During the chaos, Dumbledore cleared his throat (which silenced the whole school) and went on. "This is because of an event starting in October and will continue throughout the school year, taking up majority of the teacher's time and energy but I'm sure that you'll enjoy it immensely. I'm proud to announce that this year at Hogwarts-"

He was stopped abruptly as there was a deafening rumble of thunder, to which I cowered slighlty. The doors of the Great Hall banged open. A man was standing at the doorway, with a weird misshapen face, as though it was carved from wood. The lightning threw his face into full view. His eyes was the one part that shocked me the most. One was small and dark while the other was a vivid, electric blue magical eye that moved around independently from his normal eye. He had dark grey, grizzled hair and a wooden leg. The entire castle went quiet as he hobbled over with his wooden leg over to Dumbledore, after taking a swig from his tiny flask.

"Oh bloody hell," Ron said, awestruck. "That's Mad-Eye Moody."

Harry and I gave each other a startled look._ "Mad who?"_

"Alastor Moody," said Hermione. "He's more of the most famous aurors in the Ministry."

"Auror?" asked Dean in a confused tone. Seamus later whispered into his ear and Dean's eyes grew wide in understanding.

"Yeah, Dad told us that half the Death Eaters are in Azkaban thanks to him," replied Zack, leaning on his arm.

"Albus," said Mad-Eye Moody, "Nice to see you."

Dumbledore gave him an friendly hug and directed him to a chair near the high table. Clearing his throat, he continued as though this was completely normal. "May I introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody!"

There was a smatter of applause from the teachers and an slightly more appreciative welcome from the students.

"Now, as I was saying before," said Dumbledore as he smiled at the students still transfixed at Moody, "Hogwarts has the honor of holding an event that has not been held for centuries. It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"YOU'RE JOKING!" Fred Weasley said loudly.

"I can assure you that I'm not joking, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said just as calmly. Everybody was in an uproar, including me. It took a while before he got everyone's attention again.

"Now, the Triwizard Tournament was a friendly competition that was first established between the largest schools in England: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs, some seven hundred years ago in order for students to establish ties between different nationalities...that is, until the death toll piled up and it was discontinued."

_"Death toll?" _said an alarmed Hermione. The look on her face was priceless. She had gone completely white. The rest of us, however, were excited and I myself was way more interested in hearing more about the tournament than the deaths that happened hundreds of years ago.

"This year, however, after many failed attempts, we have managed to bring back the event with the special precautions that no one is killed during the tournament. With that said, I now present the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their Headmistress, Madame Maxime!"

The doors burst open again to a line of girls in light blue uniforms and hats. They had a very distinct walk to them that made it impossible to not look away. I think it was safe to say that nearly every guy in Gryffindor was looking in their direction. Seriously, Zack and Cody's attention span was more alert than in any class they have been in. Boomer was simply staring at the girls with a blank expression, to the annoyance of Bubbles. I also heard Ron whisper, "Bloody hell..."

To which I indirectly flicked a rubber band that I had with me at him and Zack while Hermione and Ginny smiled in satisfaction. Blossom did the same to Brick with her hair bow, which was surprising because those two have only just begun to get along.

Nearly all the girls rolled their eyes at the boys' reaction as the Beauxbatons did a little dance at the front and bowed to a very large applause from the guys. I later saw (to my amusement) that Dumbledore kissed Madame Maxime hand in greeting. The reason why I say that is because Madame Maxime was as tall as Hagrid. _Hm...same gene?_

"Dumbly-dore, I hope 'zee horses are taken care 'oof," Madame Maxime said in her incredibly thick French accent.

"Oh, but of course!" Dumbledore said, his face wide with a smile as he gestured to Hagrid. "Hagrid here will see to their uttermost needs."

After the Beauxbatons took their seats at the Ravenclaw table (I could see Jay and Nive sending me a wide-eyed desperate look as Bailey rolled her eyes), Dumbledore continued: "And now...the Durmstrangs!"

A group of boys marched into the hall wearing big, warm cloaks, stamping their staffs as they walked in. Reaching the middle of the tables, they suddenly ran towards the front and started doing a bunch of back flips. That was also when a familiar face popped into view. With the three men...

"Harry!" Ron said under his breath. He was using Harry's poor arm like a punching bag. "It's him - _Krum!"_

"I know - shush!" Harry pushed Ron's hand away from his seemingly bruised arm.

Viktor Krum was a bald man with a slender bulid. His face was emotionless as he walked in but I thought that it contributed to the school's attitude. The man in the front with a beard wore a permanent surly expression and walked up to Dumbledore, who greeted him with welcoming arms. The Durmstrangs took their seats with the Slytherins, to which Malfoy sent a smug smirk towards the Gryffindor table. It took all of my willpower to not get up and wipe that smirk off his face.

"The Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued when everybody settled down, "was brought back after taking implanting several rules and restrictions, one of which is that only those above the age of seventeen-"

The minute Dumbledore said that, the hall was in chaos. About half the people were booing, with Fred and George yelling, _"That's rubbish!"_

"What's gotten into you two?" Blossom shouted at the top of her lungs.

"We turn seventeen in April!" said Fred.

"A few more months and we would have been old enough!" moaned George.

Blossom rolled her eyes and slammed her hands on the table. "And your point?!"

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore shouted above the crowd. Everybody became deadly silent again. An angry headmaster, is the last thing we all wanted.

"Now, as I was saying, we have brought back the Triwizard Tournament with special restrictions and with the help of the Head of International Magical Cooperation, Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman, we will make sure this will be safe and enjoyable for everyone. How you'll be entering, however..."

He walked up back to the podium again, which this time had a jeweled casket sitting there. Dumbledore raised his wand and brought it down slowly, from top to bottom. The casket disappeared and revealed a goblet-looking heavy hewn wood standing on a square stone as blue-white flames blew up around the rim of the goblet.

"The Goblet of Fire!" he said to them, his deep voice echoing around the deadly silent Hall. "Anyone wishing to submit themselves to the tournament need only write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night two weeks from now. But do not do so lightly as the...Tournament is not for the faint of heart. If chosen, there's no turning back. As from this moment, The Triwizard Tournament has begun. Now on that note," he concluded in a light-hearted tone,_ "Tuck in."_

The food appeared on the tables as per usual. There was even more of a variety this time due to our guests. I took a bit of everything, as I always did.

"Hey, is that bouillabaisse?" I asked, pointing to a large dish of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and kidney pudding.

"Bless you," said Ron.

"It's a _French _dish, you idiot," I replied.

"I think so," said Hermione, who started to take some but stopped midway and faced me with an eyebrow raised. "Hey, aren't you the one who made me try it last summer?"

I pouted at her. "What if I did?"

"I hight doubt that you could have forgotten what it looked like so quickly."

"Wait," Ginny and Ron said together. "What do you mean by _last summer?"_

Hermione and I glanced at each other. _Dammit. _We completely forgot to tell the others that we accidentally bumped into each other in Paris last summer.

"Uh..." I gaped at Ginny slightly, rubbing the back of my head nervously. "I'll explain everything later."

Nearly Headless Nick looked on mournfully as we all loaded our plates.

"You're lucky you kids even got dinner tonight," he told them.

"Why's that?" Ron asked, his mouth full of steak.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Dude, please eat with your mouth closed."

"You're just like Hermione."

"Ron, it's bloody common sense!" Hermione and I protested.

"Anyway," interrupted Harry. "Please continue, Nick?"

"Peeves was mainly the reason," said Nearly Headless Nick. "He was causing trouble in the kitchens again, throwing pots and pans. The house elves hardly got any work done."

There was a clatter of a fork as Hermione accidentally tipped over the goblet of pumpkin juice. The stain started to spread all over the tablecloth but she paid no attention. "H-House-elves?" she stammered, horror-struck. _"Here at Hogwarts?"_

"Why, yes," Nearly Headless Nick said, looking surprised. "The largest number than any in Britain. Over a thousand, I think."

"To be honest, Nick, I'd nev'r seen one," I said with my mouth slightly full. I took my goblet and swallowed the medium sized bite I took out of a steak down my throat with orange juice.

"Well, they hardly come out of the kitchen during the day, now, do they? They usually come out at night to do a bit of cleaning in the common rooms - you know, set the fires and everything...that's the mark of a good house elf, isn't it? You're not supposed to see them."

Hermione stared at him. "B-But they get paid, right? Sick leaves - and holidays a-and pensions and everything?"

"Sick leaves and pensions?" the ghost chortled so much that his head flopped off, dangerously dangling on the inch or so of ghostly white skin and muscle that still attached his neck, Pushing it back and securing it with his ruff, he said, "House-elves don't want sick leaves and pensions!"

Hermione looked down at her hardly touched plate and put her fork and knife on the table, pushing the plate away from her. "Slave labour. That's what made this dinner. _Slave labour."_

And no matter how many times Ron and I tried to get her to eat, she refused to eat another bite.

A girl in a Beauxbaton uniform came up from the Ravenclaw table and appeared behind Harry and Ron. She had wispy blond hair that literally flew mid-air as if there was a fan following her. I could also feel the air of arrogance wafting from her that immediately lit up my jerk senses.

"Excuse me," asked the girl in a lofty voice, "You 'ave finished wiz it?"

"Yeah, you can take it," Ron said breathlessly.

"I'm finished with it," said Harry as he and Ron both gave her their plates. I put my head down on the table in annoyance while Hermione and Ginny rolled her eyes. A minute later, they came back to their senses.

_"She's a veela!" _Ron said hoarsely. "Like, that girl is not normal!"

"That's impossible," Hermione said flatly. "None of the guys are reacting the way you are!"

But even I saw that wasn't exactly true. As the girl walked down back to her seat with the two plates every guy was glancing in her direction as she went past them.

"Seriously, they don't make girls like those at Hogwarts!"

"They make them okay at Hogwarts," Harry said as he started to stare at Cho Chang at the Ravenclaw table.

I sighed. Ever since the match against Ravenclaw last year, all Harry's mind has ever been on concerning his love life was Cho.

"At this point Harry, I have no words," I said as I laughed my head off.


	16. Past Betrayals

**Chapter 14: Past Betrayals**

You know that feeling in your gut telling you when something bad is going to happen? Yeah, for me, it was very strong for me this week. By the end of Thursday night two weeks later, I was completely right.

Before that, Hogwarts was normal. Yes, even with the guests and the Tournament and everything else that happened up until this year, it was just something that happened during a routine for me. Although, I did find it surprising that almost every Beauxbaton girl had come up to me to compliment me on my hair and the rest of my physical features. Odd, considering that they treated the rest of the students at Hogwarts with an air of arrogance. Well, doesn't matter anyways, I always knew I was pretty. Potions was strange as usual. Snape only removed one point from Gryffindor for answering a question right, and the rest of the girls in Slytherin still hated me. Still wholy normal.

What was not normal, was Thursday on the whole, even by my standards.

So with the Tournament happening during the year, there was a huge speculation about who was going to enter. It was pretty obvious to almost everybody that Fred and George wanted to enter and Cedric Diggory was a another huge favorite as a champion. By Wednesday, everyone was already restless about who would be selected as Hogwarts champion.

"Fred and George are at it again," said Ginny when we were at the Owlery with Zeus, who had just arrived with a letter from Daphne. "They wouldn't tell me or Ron for that matter but as far as it goes, it looks like something that Filch is looking forward to put on his list of 'forbidden items.'"

I gave Zeus some Owl Kibbles as he affectionately nibbled my finger. I untied the letter off his leg and tied the one we were about to send to Sakura. We promised to keep her updated this year because after hearing what happened to Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets two years ago (no thanks to Harry), she's been paranoid ever since. Now, had Ginny told me what the hell she was going through that year, Voldemort possessing my best friend through his bloody diary could have been avoided. That being said, that doesn't mean that I didn't see right through her fake happy act.

I snickered as I did a mock salute. "Yeah, good luck to him. He's never gonna succeed."

"True." Ginny gently petted Zeus on the head and turned towards me, slightly grim. "What are we going to do, Subha?"

I gave a confused look but to be honest, I had a feeling I knew where this was headed and I really didn't want to think about it. "...What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Sakura's become paranoid about us ever since last year. Princess is still trying to causing trouble and I don't know whether we're going to be able to hold her off at this point."

I didn't say anything for the next few minutes. With everything that was going to happen this year, the last thing we needed was Princess breaking through that enchantments we have been building around Hogwarts. "The only thing we can do right now is keep her updated, Ginny."

"And what about Harry?"

I sighed. "I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse for him. It's best to not drag him into this."

"But this concerns him to begin with, Subha!"

"We don't really have a choice, Gin!" I retorted. I glanced over to the window we were standing next to as Zeus flew out into the darkening sky. I clenched my fists tighter as my brain was in a internal battle about whether to tell her of Princess's real motives.

_She's going to find out eventually, you moron!_ one half of my brain shouted.

_Who said that I want to drag Ginny in my family problems?! _the other half retorted.

_Tell her. She's your best friend!_

_Oh, what do you know?!_

_Shut the fuck up! _I yelled to the both halves. They both quieted down, leaving me in peace. Taking a huge breath, I said, "Um...Gin...there's something I gotta tell you."

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "What's going on...?"

I started fidgeting with my hands, which were sweaty as ever. "You remember when we bumped into Eriol and Kaho back in London?"

Ginny slowly nodded, her eyebrow furrowed in confusion and concern. "Yeah, I remember. When me and Kaho came back with coffee, you were sweaty and pale as a ghost and Eriol had a grim look in his eyes."

Standing stiff as a statue, I blurted out, "A Death Eater killed Sakura's mother, my mum was killed shortly before Lily was and Molly Morbucks was the cause of both of them."

For the next few minutes, Ginny was speechless. Then, after gathering her bearings, she said, "Molly Morbucks. Who the hell-"

"She's Princess's deceased mother," I cut in. "While Eriol was digging around Nadeshiko's past, Mr Kinomoto gave him her old diary. After reading it, Eriol came to the conclusion that Nadeshiko already knew how Lily and my mum died. After that...well, she didn't die from an illness like Sakura thought. It was something else."

"Wait, weren't they all killed by You-Know-Who?"

I nodded. "Maybe, but only a handful of people knew that the Potters were hiding. Namely, my mother, Nadeshiko, and Lupin, Sirius, Peter Pettigrew and Molly Morbucks."

"Oh my god," said Ginny. "So that means..."

"Morbucks ratted them out," I finished bitterly. "Along with Pettigrew."

"Sirius Black didn't give them away," she mused.

"He never would have to begin with. Now-"

"How do you know that?"

_Crap._ I involuntarily twitched my eye while trying to come up with an answer. "...instinct? Anyway, the question is: how did Nadeshiko find out who the culprits were? Because as far as Eriol's concerned, she was the only person thirteen years ago who knew that Sirius was innocent."

Ginny didn't look convinced but she went along with my ploy anyway. "Okay then. First off, how long was Molly-"

"Oi, Ginny, Subha!" someone cried out. "There you two are!"

The both of us jumped and let out a shriek. Turning around, I saw Zack at the entrance, panting heavily as he leaned against the side with his hand. My heart stopped as I considered the possibility of being overheard._ Shit._

"Jesus, Zack, don't scare us like that!" Ginny said furiously.

Zack raised an eyebrow at us.

"What in the world are you two doing here?!" he asked. "Almost everyone's at the Hall, watching the ones putting their ballots in!"

"Oh alright, we're coming!" I grumbled as we marched over to the entrance. And I don't know if I was dreaming or not, but I could have sworn I saw a small flicker of realization across Zack's face as I walked past him.

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><p><strong><em>AN: So, what do you think? Did Zack overhear the conversation about Princess and their relationship with her? Let me know in the comments, I would love to see theories about this! XD_**


	17. The Fourth Champion

**Chapter 15: The Fourth Champion**

The Great Hall was packed. All of the tables were pushed to the side so that majority of the students were sitting down on the benches by the time Ginny and I arrived with Zack. We both found a seat next to Hermione and I plopped down on her right. The minute she saw me, she bookmarked the book she was reading and gave me an annoyed expression.

"What?!" I cried out.

"Where the hell were you?"

"At the owlery sending a letter to Sakura. She's been getting more paranoid ever since she found out what happened to Ginny two years ago."

Hermione sighed. "I'm not surprised. I remember you ranting last year about Daphne and her sisters sending you letters every week."  
>"Don't remind me. I'm just glad that Delilah, Fred, Velma and Shaggy talked her and the rest of the Blake sisters out of doing it this year."<p>

"I like Delilah," said Ginny. "She's way better then Daisy."

"Yeah...ever since Daisy got engaged, she's been a little bit of a jerk, especially to Daph. Plus, she hates the fact that Daphne and Delilah are the sisters I'm closest to," I added as I pulled out my wallet and took out a picture of me with the five orange haired and purple eyed Blake sisters Delilah, Dawn, Daisy, Dorothy and Daphne. I smiled at my five year old self sitting on Daphne's lap and put it back as I asked, "So...um, what did we miss?"

"They started putting the names in the Goblet," said Blossom, who was sitting behind us with her legs crossed.

"Really? Who's done it so far?"

"Angelina Johnson entered her name in about an hour ago. Cedric Diggory and his posse came in like two minutes before you and Ginny. I wouldn't be surprised if he did it due to peer pressure."

"Where's Bubbles and Buttercup?"

"They'll be here in about a minute. Brick, Boomer and Butch are on the other side with Harry and Ron, so they'll be fine.

_Looks like Zack worked his magic during this summer, _I thought to myself. Before today, it would be close to impossible to talk to Blossom without her ranting about how much of a jackass Brick was being. My gaze eventually and unwittingly fell over to the Goblet. If it weren't for that age limit, I would have put my name in there. I didn't really care about the prize, it would have been really cool to just compete in the Tournament. All the spells I could use, thinking about it gave me a rush of adrenaline. But Hermione stopped me before I could go on with that thought any further.

"Don't even think about it," said Hermione. "You would die within the first task. Besides, even if you were of age and got selected, would you really want Daphne hogging Zeus with her letters again?"

I looked at her with a pout and a frown. "Thanks for destroying my fantasy thought, Hermione."

"Honestly, you're starting to remind me of Natsu right now," she replied as she opened up her book again. "He's the exact type of maniac who would be up for this."

"Yeah, before Luce and the rest of the guild knocks some sense into him," I muttered.

"Who the hell is Natsu?" Ginny glanced back and forth between us with an raised eyebrow.

"No one," I said a little quickly. Hermione went rigid almost immediately, giving me a discrete glance from the corner of her eyes and a slight shake of her head as I added, "Uh...just someone from Hermione's neighbourhood."

"Oh really?" Ginny said ominously, her brown eyes glaring intensely into mine. "Cause the name Natsu sounds vaguely familiar from mum's stories about Fairy Ta-"

"Coming through! Coming through!" the familiar voices of Fred and George saved my arse from being burnt as they got everybody's attention. _Jesus Christ, Ginny reminds me of Juvia with that glare. _"Unless anyone wants to miss out, I'd suggest backing up!"

"Fred, George, what the hell are you both doing?" I asked them. I knew what they were going to do but honestly, I had a feeling there was something else.

"Taking an Ageing Potion, no less," George answered.

"It won't work," said Hermione smugly. "I guarantee you."

"Oh yeah?" Fred asked, his head peeking out on Hermione's left. "And why's that?"

She pointed to an blue line that circled the Goblet, spanning out for at least two feet. "You see that? That is an Age Line. Dumbledore created it himself."

The twins shrugged nonchalantly. "So?"

Hermione scoffed. "_So, _a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as pathetically dim-witted as an ageing potion."

"Ah, but that's why it's so brilliant!" George cried out.

"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted," Fred added sarcastically.

I was honest to god, trying to stifle my laughter at this point. Whether I agreed or disagreed with Hermione, even I knew that it was going to backfire on them. Big time. I bit my lip as I watched Fred and George drink the liquid that was in the tubes they were holding and jumped into the circle. Nothing happened and everyone started cheering as the twins put their names into the Goblet.

"This is going to take a turn for the worse," Ginny and Blossom both commented under their breaths. They were proven right when the fire flared up and blasted Fred and George backwards out of the Age Line. When they got up, they both hilariously had long, white beards hanging from their faces.

"You said-" George started saying.

"You said-" Fred intervened before George launched himself onto Fred and the idiots started scuffling on the ground. Almost everyone in the room surrounded them as they chanted, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!", while Hermione rolled her eyes and directed her attention back to her book. I sat back down with my arms crossed, giggling slightly to myself.

"You actually find this funny?" Hermione said without looking up from her book.

"Eh, its rather amusing to see two idiots take a go at it."

A small smile appeared on Hermione's face. "Of course you would think that."

The chanting eventually died down to just the sounds of Fred and George grunting. Looking up to see why it died down all of a sudden, I saw the crowd part as a group of men marched their way to the Goblet. As they got closer to the Age Line, I realized that it was the Durmstrangs. One person came out of the tight circle and it was none other than Viktor Krum. At this point, even Fred and George went silent and the Hall became deadly quiet. No one made a single movement as Krum put his name in the Goblet and looked straight in our direction...or moreover, Hermione's, as stonefaced as he was. He then directed his gaze towards me for a split second and his eyebrows furrowed in what could have been confusion and astonishment. I glanced back at Hermione as he walked away and in typical Hermione fashion, she had her one eyebrow raised the entire time with a microscopic, confused smile and then went right back to her book.

"Why do I get the feeling that he finds you interesting?" Ginny said slyly with her lips forming a teasing smirk. The Hall had gone back to its usual muttering about a minute later.

"Or maybe...he liiiikes you," I added in my best Happy impression, even bringing up my fingertips to my lips in a gushing manner. This successfully earned me a wide-eyed looked from Hermione as she lightly punched me in the arm.

"Oh shut up, Subha," said Hermione as she huffed. "There's no way he's interested in me. He has plenty of his fans to keep him company."

That pretty much set off the laughter Ginny and I were holding in since Fred and George's attempt at the Goblet. I highly doubted that was Krum's case but to be honest, he kind of worried me. Granted, he was a famous Quidditch player but up close, something seemed off about him. Or maybe that was the impending feeling of doom I been getting since Dumbledore announced the Tournament.

Either way, I was not hopeful about the future results.

* * *

><p>Thursday night was finally here and everyone was not in a mood to sit down and be silent. They were eager about the results and despite my growing pessimistic view, even I couldn't wait. Even the feast that was done rather extravagantly wasn't enough to sedate the craning necks. I was sitting with Harry, Ron (to my dismay), Zack and Cody and was chatting with Hermione and Ginny about the favorite candidates.<p>

"You reckon it'll be Diggory?" said Ginny.

"Positive."

"Have you heard that Warrington from Slytherin also entered the Tournament?" asked Hermione.

"You're joking," said Harry, aghast. Zack's jaw dropped to the floor but Cody remained almost bored.

"I'll say it one more time," Ron interrupted, "No one is going to want a Slytherin as Hogwarts Champion."

"Except the Slytherins, you idiot," I retorted.

"I rather have Diggory take the spot. We'll see if he's more than just a pretty face."

I rolled my eyes and brought my face to my hands, groaning. Some of the Hufflepuffs behind Ron threw annoyed glances at him and turned their attention towards the podium as Dumbledore and some of the teachers joined him.

"This is it!" Dumbledore boomed. "It looks like the Goblet is ready to make its decision." He made a sweeping motion with his wand and all of the candles that lit the Hall extinguished, the only source of light coming from the blue fire that came from the Goblet.

"Now, remember, the Triwizard Tournament is not for the faint of heart," Dumbledore reminded us. "Once selected, there's no turning back. With that said, those who are selected, I ask that you come up to the front and get further instructions from the staff."

He raised his hand as the fire turned a fiery scarlet and sprouted a piece of parchment into Dumbledore's hand. "And the first champion is...our very own Cedric Diggory!"

"No!" Ron shouted but no one heard him over the roars of applause from the Hufflepuffs. Cedric walked to the front and shook McGonagall's hand and stood up there as the fire turned scarlet and another piece of parchment flew into view.

"And the second contestant...is the lovely Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons!"

Another roar of applause came from the Ravenclaw table as the blonde sashayed her way to the front.

"And finally...Viktor Krum representing the Drumstrangs!"

The Slytherin table applauded loudly as Krum got up to the front and did the same as the first two did.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore cried out happily. "We have our three champions! And now, as far as the date of the first task goes-"

He was suddenly stopped by the sudden whispering that occurred at the staff table. Crouch was there as well, with a scowl, his eyes widening in astonishment.

Dumbledore turned around as everyone pointed at the Goblet, which started glowing again. The feeling rose up again to my throat, making it almost impossible for me to breath and take a gulp. _No...this isn't where I think it's going...is it?!_

"Oh no..." I trailed off in a ominous tone. I was so tense, I forgot that Hermione, Ginny, Zack and Cody were right beside me.

"What is it?" asked a concerned Hermione. "Is everything okay?"

"Subha." Ginny put a hand on my shoulder. "Your eyes are turning yellow. Are you sure you're okay?!"

"If her eyes are turning yellow..." said Zack, "Then that means that she's afraid of something. We're serious here, Subha, what the hell is going on?!"

"How would you know that?!" Cody said incredulously.

"Not the time, Cody!"

I thought back to our meeting with Eriol back in London as I directed my eyes to the Goblet.

"Gin..." I started saying, finally getting enough air in my lungs to speak. "I think I know what Eriol meant when he said that Hogwarts was in trouble."

Ginny threw me a panicked look. "No. Are you seriously basing this on Eriol's warning this summer?!"

"Yes, I am, Ginny, and for good reason." I turned towards Hermione. "Granger, do you remember Carla's prediction?"

"Yeah, but what does that-" Hermione stopped abruptly as she realized what I was trying to say. About a week ago, she hid the portal leading to Fairy Tail in the bushes behind Hagrid's hut as planned and we both decided to give the guild a visit. However, arriving there, we found out that Wendy's Exceed companion, Carla apparently had precognition powers. Looking into ours, she gave us the exact same warning as Eriol gave me and Ginny with the addition that we needed to be with Harry at any cost. We didn't think anything of it at the time but now...

_"No. _Subha, _please _tell me that she was joking," begged Hermione.

Zack, Cody and Ginny were now staring at me and Hermione with a very confused glare but I ignored them.

"Then tell me why the hell she would tell us to be with Harry at any cost, Hermione!" I retorted as the piece of parchment flew out of the fire and into Dumbledore's hand.

"What is ze meaning of this, Dumbly-Dore?!" Madame Maxine said, outraged.

There was a long pause in the air as everyone stared at Dumbledore. He opened up the piece of parchment. He cleared his throat, and said the two words that me and Hermione were dreading to hear:

_"Harry Potter."_

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><p><strong><em>AN: Hey guys! Hope you liked that chapter! :D Also, the Blake sisters are from Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated and that's the show where I'm going to take some of the characters from. If you watched the show, you know who I'm talking about but for the people who haven't seen it, at least you know why I used the name "Nan Blake" for Daphne's mum._**

**_Also, next chapter is the first task...so stay tuned!_**

**_And I'm really sorry if the last part of this chapter is a little rushed and is not how the book or the movie encounters it but to be fairly honest, I can't get down every single detail from the books and movies every time. I can only try to follow the plot as best as I can._**

**_See you guys later :DDDD_**


	18. Most Dragons Are Adorable, Right?

_**A/N: Throwback time! This was the first cover for Mysterious Fates, way before this rewrite. For some of you that don't know, this story is actually a rewrite of a fanfic under the same title when I first started Wattpad...about two years ago. XD This cover was made by my real life friend and she's a wonderful writer :D**_

_**And...I kinda lied when I said that this was going to be the first task. I was gonna add it in this chapter but it would be too long. AHAHAHAHAHHA SORRY XD**_

_**ENJOY :)**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 16: Most Dragons are Adorable...Right?<strong>

Well, after Harry's name was called, that's when an entire shitstorm of events happened.

Okay, I may be exaggerating but the next few weeks leading up to the first task were not short of whispering and gossip all around the school, no thanks to the Slytherins.

Either way, the Hufflepuffs, who normally got along with the Gryffindors, were not so happy about the fact that Harry took the spotlight again. In addition to that, the Slytherins made badges that said, _"Potter Stinks"_ all the while enjoying the hate that Harry was receiving from the rest of the school. _God, I want to murder them._

And to top it all off...Ron was being a huge insecure dick. Apparently, he and Harry got into an huge argument about whether Harry put his name in the cup the night the champions were chosen. Me, Ginny and Hermione of course, knew better and tried to make them see sense but being boys, neither of them were having it.

"I'm not talking to Ron until he admits that I wouldn't be stupid enough to put my name in the cup!" Harry shouted at me one day. I was in the library researching Binns' stupid essay aboit goblins as he came up to me fuming and demanded that I convince Ron into some logic reasoning.

I pulled Harry in a seat beside me. "Harry, we're in a library, please calm down!" I whispered. I sighed as I added, "And honestly, I known Ron and Ginny since I was eight and you have to know that he's-"

"The one time that I thought that he would believe me-"

"I believe you, idiot! Now please hear me when I say that Ron's always been like this. Hermione may think a little differently but Ron needs to come to his own senses. I can't convince him nor can Hermione, cause he's going to have to do that himself. You, however, need to concentrate on what you're going to do for the first task!"

"I already have a plan on what I going to do," Harry replied sullenly. "Hermione's helping me on how to do the Summoning Charm."

"Okay," I said slowly, patting the air. "Good. That should keep you busy for a bit. Just take your mind off Ron, please. It's for your own good right now. If he's really your best friend, then he'll-"

"Realize on his own," he finished and gave me a small smile. "I get it. But what do you mean when you say that Ron's always been-_oh."_

I raised an eyebrow at him and gathered my books into my bag as I stood up. "Now you see why I'm telling you to not bother with him for the time being."

Harry stood up as well and started walking with me. "I better get going as well. _The Daily Prophet's_ coming to interview the champions and there's this woman called Rita Skeeter that's doing the process."

_You had to be kidding me. Her, of all people?! _Rita Skeeter was a woman that I could punch with no regrets whatsoever.

"Christ, is that today?!" I asked him as we walked out of the library. "Good luck to you, mate. And watch yourself with Rita Skeeter. I _may _have said some unflattering things to her after she insulted Hermione, who was with me before Charms."

Harry faced me with doom and resignation covering his face. "What did you do this time?"

"I was minding my own business an hour back when she crashed into me and didn't even apologize. She dropped her notepad and right as I picked it up, her quill squirted ink in my face and she later commented how ridiculously similar I was to you."

"Everyone seems to be saying that these days, aren't they?"

"Can we go back to first year when the only person saying that was Hermione?"

He rolled his eyes. "I wish. Continue?"

I sighed. "Either way, she then asked me why I was hanging out with the 'wrong crowd.'" When Harry gave me a confused look, I added with disgust, "Apparently, hanging out with and I quote, _'a plain bushy-haired girl',_ wasn't doing good for my image."

_"She said what about Hermione?!"_

"Yeah, I got so pissed off. After that, well, I insulted the shit out of her." My lips formed an evil smile as I cackled. "Calling her a two faced ass and threating her with a promise to disfigure her face also helps."

"You...certainly are evil, Subha," Harry said in a slightly frightened tone. "See you later?"

"Yup." I waved as he ran over to where he needed to go.

As time went on, things were getting from bad to worse. It looked like Malfoy let the secret about my relation to Harry slip to the rest of his house. Now, whenever I was in Potions and I would see Malfoy and Pansy sneaking towards poor Neville and embarrass him, I couldn't do anything about it unless I wanted everyone to think that I was some self-absorbed idiot, which Malfoy and his croonies will surely do if I stepped out of line.

So the night before the first task, when Zack asked me if I could meet him over at the Forbidden Forest at midnight, I readily agreed despite the looming consequences. I desperately needed some time to not think about anything and this was one perfect opportunity. So as I tip-toed towards the portrait hole fifteen minutes before midnight, I didn't count on the fact that one, the fire was lit, and two that someone would be sitting in one of the arm chairs and no matter how quiet I was, I'll never be able to get past the door.

"So where are you going at this time of night?" a voice made me jump as I reached the portrait hole. I turned around, and I smacked my forehead. _Him. Of all people. Why._

"Hi, Knucklehead," I grumbled as I walked over to the armchair in which Ron was sitting in. "I should be asking you same question."

Ron didn't even look at me. His face was literally expressionless. "Where. Are. You. Going."

"Why do you need to know?"

"I didn't know you had to turn into Juliet to meet Zack over at the Forbidden Forest."

I stiffened as I was turning completely red. In response to my current standing, Ron replied, "I overheard Zack asking you. The both of you are lucky that I didn't tell Cody."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Oh yeah? I didn't know that you had to turn into Tybalt to find your best friend's sister sneaking out."

Ron scoffed. "He's not my best friend."

"Why are you really out here, Ron?"

He stood up and walked past me, ignoring my question. However, he stopped right at the foot of the steps to the boys side of the common room and said, "Do you honestly believe him?"

I gave him a grave look. I looked him in the eye and said, "Yeah, I do. Considering you're one of his best friends, why do you have a hard time doing the same?"

"Don't you ever get that feeling that-"

"Don't you dare tell me what to believe, Ronald Weasley." I clenched my hands into fists. In a murderous whisper, I continued: "Don't you dare let your own insecurities cloud your perspective with the rest of the school. You know perfectly how much Harry didn't want this."

"And how do you know that?"

"For god's sakes, Ron, I'm his bloody sister! Who the bloody hell is gonna believe him if his own best friend doesn't?!"

"What do you know about what Harry wanted, Subha? For all you know, he could be faking it!" Ron retorted.

A deadly silence fell between us as he said that. I couldn't believe my ears. _Oh my god. He actually said that._ My eyes narrowed into slits. My entire body structure stiffened and my stance became more ready to fight than to talk because before I knew it, I had my wand in my hand, ready to hex him. Ron suddenly looked panicked, and with a guilty look, backed up a step or two. "Subha...your eyes...they're completely orange..."

I didn't hear him in my quiet raging feeling that was going to blow up at any moment. "In all of the years I have known you, Ron..." I said in a disappointed tone, "...that was the absolute last thing I would have expected from you."

I stormed out of the common room, not giving a shit about whether I got detention or not.

* * *

><p>Zack was not happy that I turned up ten minutes late.<p>

"What took you so long?!"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Ron happened. And plus, when you're not in a good mood, Peeves tends to eff things up. I nearly got caught by Mrs. Norris."

"I won't pester you from there." Zack said nervously, taking one good look at me. We just stood there for a minute, not saying anything. What the hell was he going to do in there anyway? He said that he wanted to show me something but...what?

I cleared my throat, "Ti-time's ticking, Zack. We should get going."

"Oh. Um. Yeah...this way." He held out his hand as though he was going to escort me to a ball or something. Rolling my eyes, I took it and we both walked down deep into the forest floor. I was really rather glad that no one could see me turning red at night, especially him. I could see a faint ray of light coming off at the end but that wasn't even the surprising part. Next thing I knew, Zack and I were both lying on our backs, pinned by some random four-legged creature.

"Hey, Nikki," Zack said weakly. "If you can get off us before we die, that would be immensely helpful."

_Nikki?_ The creature got off us and immediately after, I got my wand out and said, _"Lumos."_

My wand lit up as I pointed it at the creature that pinned us, which happened to be a black dragon with lavender pupils looking curiously at me. What's more, it was a Night Fury, one of the rarest species in the wizarding world. Zack gave the dragon a small scratch behind it's ear, to the dragon's pleasure. Glancing back at me, he said, "Please don't freak out. You know what I showed you about Nikki...right?"

I stared at the both of them, point blank confused. "I understand about what you showed me about Nikki. It's just..." I kneeled down and held out my hand. Nikki came forward and let me scratch her right ear. "...did she seriously follow you all the way over here to Hogwarts?!"

"He he...yeah."

"How did you find out?"

"My air-compass did all the work to be honest," he confessed, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Oh, that makes comple - wait. _Air compass?_" I started to have a fit of giggles, clutching my stomach. "What the hell, Zack?"

"What? It was the best name I could come up with! Don't judge me!"

As I started straight out laughing, Zack tried to unsuccessfully stop me for the next three minutes. With my wand lit, I could really see his scarlet face and somehow, that made me laugh even more. That's when he suddenly cupped my face into his hands and kissed me. I shut up immediately and wrapped my arms around his neck, putting out my wand in the process. Who knew how long we were standing like that at that one spot. All I knew was that as he pulled me closer with his one arm now at my waist, this one was definitely longer than our previous one. We pulled out after what seemed like forever and just looked at each other with our arms wrapped around each other.

Legit, the first thing the both of us said was: "Holy shit."

A big flash of fire went off behind me just before we started to lean in again. Finally separating with a jolt of surprise, we glanced over at Nikki, who gave us an annoyed expression in return and made me turn around by nudging me over to the nearby bushes and crouch. _Geez, who knew dragons could emote?_

_"What is that?!" _Zack said in astonishment.

What we were staring at with our mouths open, was a clearing with four different dragons. Big dragons in big cages.

"Dragons?" I heard a familiar voice say in the distance._ Harry. Of course._ "That's the first task?!"

Zack must have heard it as well, cause the next thing I knew, he was standing up, craning his neck to find where the voice was coming from.

"Zack, sit down!" I whispered hoarsely. Nikki pulled him down by his shirt to a crouching position again. "We can't be seen!"

"Yeah," Hagrid's gruff voice echoed slightly from my hearing. "Although you may wanna be-"

"Subha, duck!" Zack pulled me down with Nikki shielding us from something. It turned out to be one of the dragons blasting fire straight towards the bushes...exactly two feet from where we were silently crouching. If Nikki hadn't shielded us...I'd hate to think of the results.

"Come on, let's get the hell out of here," Zack said. He pulled my hand and got on Nikki, who quickly flew us over to a safe and rather semi-dark distance.

"Dragons," I trailed off. "Dragons are the first bloody task?! Harry is so effing screwed. And besides, aren't most dragons supposed to be-" I stopped blabbering as I saw Zack talking to Nikki and a small smile appeared on my face.

"Sorry, girl, but I'm going to have to leave you here again," Zack said soothingly to Nikki, rubbing her nose. Seeing that cemented an fluffy image of Zack being adorable in general into my brain.

"You really do care about her," I said with a smile, "Don't you?"

Zack laughed nervously and stood up, rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess being in danger can really pull...someone..."

He stopped abruptly and it was a while before I realized that all I could think about was his eyes. _"Well, it was now or never"_ I thought to myself. _"Might as well accept it."_

Pulling him towards me with his shirt, blushing madly in the process, I would have loved to say that it lasted only a minute and we arrived at the common room within the next ten minutes. But if I was being honest, going back to the common room was the last thing on our minds.

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><p><em><strong>AN: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm really sorry if I ended on a rather fluffy note and you hate that kind of stuff. But it was really rather late and I finished this an hour before midnight. So cut me some slack. XD**_

_**On the other hand, some news: on the 27th of June, I'm going to be on a plane to India, so there's probably not going to be that many updates from me for the next four weeks because I may not get WiFi there. But being on a 12-hour flight will give me some time to finish at least 3 chapters for this fanfic or my Nalu one. It really sorta depends, so that when I do get WiFi there, I'll be able to update at least one of my stories. So until then, sayonara! :DDDD**_


	19. Author's Note (PLEASE READ)

_**This is one of the few times I'm going to write a separate authors note. The reason is to inform you wonderful readers about the changes I made with this book, along with a few other things.**_

**First thing:** _I rewrote the prologue and added a new first chapter. So if you haven't checked that out, please do so :D I promised it's better than before._

**Second:** _People were complaining about how "The Beginning of a Beginning" chapter was very lengthy. So I split that up and the second part is called "Unexpected Surprises." I know the title needs a little bit of work but for now, this'll do._

**Thirdly:** _I'm trying to edit this book like crazy right now so please bear with me with some of the inconsistencies._

**Fourthly: **_I forgot to mention something in my previous update: _**_I entered this story in the Wattys! On a website called Wattpad, there's this awards contest called the Wattys. They give out these really cool rewards and get more people to see your story. _**_I feel like this story can win, but I need your help. You can go on your Twitter and/ or Tumblr and share this story's link with the tag, #MyWattysChoice (use the Wattpad links, just go onto my profile and you can find the link to my Wattpad profile and find my stories on there.) And plus, I think I mentioned that I'm leaving for India this Saturday so...yeah. Nothing more to say. XD_

_But...I do have a random confession. Okay, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood isn't really part of Mysterious Fates but I sometimes think about how the characters would react if they were stuck in Resembool for a week. Ron and Ed would clash almost immediately, Hermione and Winry would be standing at the side with an ax in their hands, Alphonse and Ginny would spend about thirty minutes complaining about their older brothers, Olivier would actually take a bit of a liking to Subha...after they had a "friendly" sword fight, Alex Armstrong and Harry would be simply staring in awe at their siblings, May Chang and Sakura would get on swell, Riza and Roy would simply threaten Subha and Ron if they started fighting again...yeah, the list goes on. (It's not going to become that concrete, it'll be something that I'll probably add in my one shots book as a bit of a side "What if" story.)_

_What you read above is the kind of thinking I would generally use if I had seen a really good series. I would go off on how the characters from each series would react around each other and then come up with an idea on how and when they meet and got to know each other. __An example of this is when I watched Black Butler and Fairy Tail. While Black Butler seemed out of place with it's Victorian Era setting and it's tone, Fairy Tail stuck with its light hearted tone, themes that were kinda similar to Harry Potter and so forth. I also did this with Kung Fu Panda (I'm not joking, it was in the original (this is a rewrite) and there was a whole past with a rather stupid self-built magic time portal (who the hell can create that to begin with?!), the Jade Palace involving Subha (Jasmine in the original), Ginny, Sakura, Princess and Harry (Don't ask me what I was thinking, this was 3 years ago), Tigress originally had Erza's role in helping Zack find Jodha's pendant, Hermione and Viper became friends...okay you get my point), and Wizards of Waverly Place (okay, this one made more sense and nearly made it into this story but the ideas that I had for Alex and Max didn't fit with this rewrite). I will admit though, Suite Life was here for two reasons: one, read the beginning of the paragraph. Two, I SAW HEADCANNONS ON TUMBLR ABOUT LONDON OKAY XD_

_And in addition, when I make the decision to add a specific series to a crossover, I first make sure if it can match up with the history and background with the rest of the fandoms. This is why it was easy for me to mash the histories of How to Train Your Dragon, Fairy Tail and Harry Potter and __create__ a little bit of MF's own unique history in the process. _

_Another interesting thing to note is that Fairy Tail and HTTYD are the only ongoing series that's being used in this story. Every single series other than the two are already done and over with, so in a sense, it was easier to combine most of them without changing what happened canonically. This is one reason why Fairy Tail is kinda proving to be difficult as its part of the story is supposed to take place after the series supposedly ends. _

_Okay, that was a lot of writing for an A/N. Sorry about that, although you now have an idea on how I plan out this story in general. XD Going back to the Wattys, please do share this story with the tag #MyWattysChoice! Sayonara!_


	20. The Mad Hungarian Horntail

**Chapter 17: The Mad Hungarian Horntail**

The day of the first task was here and I was in a bit of a nervous knot. Meaning, I was downright scared about telling Sakura about what Harry got himself into this year without being killed. To be honest though, I wasn't the only one.

"Sakura is going to murder us," said Ginny when I told her what I saw last night. We were walking down to the audience stands as she added, "I kid you not, when she finds out, she will find a way to Disapparate all the way over here from Japan and send her ARROW card shooting firey arrows at us."

"There's a reason why Dumbledore said that this wasn't for the faint of heart," I said wearily.

"Yeah, but _dragons?! _Subha, he'd be better off dealing with You-Know-Who!_"_

I stopped walking. I stood there in a rather shocked expression. Not at what Ginny said, anyone with a brain would know she meant that as a joke. But my thoughts rolled over to the possibility of: _What if that was the case?_

"Gin..." I started to say, "Do you think that there may be a spy at Hogwarts?"

Ginny shrugged. "Depends." We started walking again. "Other than Snape and Morbucks, who else do you think is trying to get Harry killed?"

"Dunno." We started walking again. "Moody, perhaps?"

"You're mad."

"No, think about it. Quirell tried to kill Harry for the Philosopher's Stone."

"I wasn't even here that year! I only ever heard about how Ron helped them get there with his knowledge about Wizard's Chess. I swear to god, he still hasn't stopped bragging about it."

"Anyway, with the exception of Lupin, almost every Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher were driven out."

"Lockhart drove himself out," said a voice. Turning around, we found Ron and Hermione behind us. "With that said, why the bloody hell are you two talking about that dimwit?"

"A conversation about Sakura murdering us because of Harry turned into someone spying at Hogwarts," said Ginny.

"Ah."

Meanwhile, I gave a derisive snort and stormed away with my arms crossed. I still wasn't happy about what Ron had said last night and Ginny knew this very well. Hermione caught up with me as I fast walked over to the audience stands.

"Not you too," Hermione moaned after she saw my grumpy expression. "Come on, Subha, we're trying to make Harry and Ron see sense, not get wrapped up in it!"

"I don't care," I said shortly. "That bloody dimwit has to come to the realization himself. I'm done."

"You are way too temperamental at times. Your emotions often cloud your sense of judgment."

"Gee, thanks. Nice to know. And exactly how many times has it happened to you?"

Hermione exhaled into her hand and then glanced over to the champions tent. She then got a certain gleam in her eye as she grabbed my hand.

"Uh-oh. Granger, we are _not_ doing this."

"Jezz, you're so pessimistic sometimes," said Hermione, dragging me over to the champions tent. "Come on, this will cheer the both of us up."

"I'm the pessimistic one?!" I yelled, waving my free arm wildly, "Who was the one who almost stopped me from going into the portal leading to Fairy Tail?!"

"There's a difference between going into something unknown and something you know is going to cheer you up."

"Right. Such as making a Poyjuice Potion, or taking Buckbeak for a 'small ride'?"

"That's different!"

I rolled my eyes. "Granger, you're in total denial. Besides, I thought you hated flying."

"Am not! And I do hate flying, it was because of Siru - I mean, Padfoot that I went with Harry to begin with!"

We both spent the rest of the way to the tent bickering and sending sarcastic remarks at each other. During that period, I realized that it was basically our friendship summed up in a nutshell. Not that I had any problems with it. It was just the way we worked.

"What are you both doing here?!" Harry asked in astonishment when he saw us through the slip of the tent.

"Came to wish you good luck," I answered. "Why else would we be here?! Also this was Granger's idea."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you had come with it, Subha."

"How are you doing?" Hermione asked.

There was a bit of an uncomfortable pause. A minute later he said, "Yeah...I'm fine."

"Good luck out there..." said Hermione, " ...you know...when you-"

"-Battle a dragon?" Harry intervened.

That's when Hermione lost it. Well, considering the circumstances, I wouldn't say "lost it" but she fumbled with the tent curtains for a few seconds before jumping onto Harry, pulling him into a tight hug. At the same time, a flash of light went off and I went inside, not caring that the rest of the champions saw me. Anger started boiling inside me when I saw where it came from.

"Ah, young love," the sultry voice of Rita Skeeter echoed in the tiny tent. Finding me standing next to the two, she clapped her hands at me like I was a five year old. "And look who's here to join the fun!"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Can it, Skeeter. What are you even doing here?"

The fake playful smile vanished off Skeeter's face as she glared at me with her red glasses. "The real question here, silly girl, is what are _you_ doing here?"

I was about to snap back when a deep and foreign accent said, "You are not allowed here."

Turning around, I saw Viktor Krum with an annoyed expression; who continued, "This is a place for champions...and friends."

Everyone in the tent was now watching the confrontation. Skeeter carefully surveyed Krum with an raised eyebrow and a glint in her evil eyes. She eventually shrugged and said, "Well, no matter. We got everything we needed. Come on, boys."

But before she and her crew walked out of the tent, Skeeter glanced at me with her lips forming a sly smirk.

"You know, Patel," Skeeter added, "I have a lot more dirt on you than you think. Don't think you're doing yourself a favor by being a smart alec."

I froze. What the hell was she talking about? I have literally done nothing that would make her have her kind of "dirt" on me. I mean, sure, I insulted her but that legitimately would not make for a good story. Carefully making sure that my confusion didn't show on my face, I sneered, "If you're thinking about scaring me, Skeeter, it's not working."

"Just a warning, sweetie. You never know what to expect."

She sashayed out of the tent, leaving me more confused than a dead rat.

"What did Rita Skeeter mean when she said that she has dirt on you?" Hermione asked once we were on the stands with the others. It was a few minutes before the first champion came out to battle a dragon. Fred and George were pulled bets on the tournament a few rows behind us.

"How should I know?" I answered. "All I know is that something smells fishy about this entire year and I don't know what."

"Be careful around her, Subha. She's a news reporter and a nasty one at that. If she has something on you-

"Hey guys, Diggory's coming out," said Zack. I turned around to glance at him and we immediately locked eyes for a minute. My ears were starting to turn hot and red. Whatever chance we had to return things to normal, friendship wise, was put down the drain with the kisses we shared last night. Either it was both of our emotions running sky high or it was because of the saying that we couldn't be friends forever, I think it's safe to say that I had a crush on him for sometime now. But thanks to that, we've hardly talked to each other since this morning.

Cedric came out with loud cheers, which broke my gaze as I put my full concentration on watching the task and avoiding Zack. He quickly defeated his in a matter of minutes; it only took thirty minutes before Fleur took his place and then Krum and finally, Harry.

Harry was rather stonefaced for someone who had to deal with a dragon. And knowing which dragons the previous champions went through, the final and most dangerous one was left to Harry. Basically, what the task was that they had to steal a Golden Egg from a nest with normal eggs, which held the clue to the second task. Each of the champions before Harry were successful but with a Chinese Fireball (Fleur's dragon) that was really risky.

_Good luck, Harry,_ I mouthed to him as he glanced over to us. Nodding stiffly, he ran over to the Golden Egg. _Oh, if only if it were that easy. _He was pushed back with a tail that looked eerily similar to Astrid's Deadly Nadder. (Yeah, Hermione and I met her and Hiccup, long story.) Only this dragon was not blue and was deadly. Very deadly.

"An Hungarian Horntail," I said under my breath. "Oh, are you fucking kidding me? Someone's really out to get him this year."

"Yeah, no kidding," Cody and Ginny said in unison.

Luckily for Harry, he regained his stance and got behind a rock before he got burned to bits. The crowd went nuts. This is when we saw whether Harry was really up to the Tournament. It didn't matter if you got burned or not. You had to literally put everything you have been taught into this tournament.

_"Use your wand, Harry!" _Hermione shouted, _"Your wand!"_

_"Accio Firebolt!"_ Harry screamed at the top of his lungs when the dragon had finished burning up half a rock.

Nothing happened. But about two minutes later, something was flying in the air. Squinting my eyes, I sighed, suddenly figuring out exactly what Harry and Hermione were planning the entire time.

"Of course," I said, almost knowingly. I leaned towards Hermione. "You can't use a broom but you can use a wand...right, Granger?"

Hermione reacted exactly how I expected her to. She gave me a wide-eyed look and then a raised eyebrow. "Of course, you figured it out. Oh Patel, what can we keep hidden from you?"

I shrugged. "It's not that hard to find the frigging loophole. Cedric could have done it as well, you know."

Hermione's face went pink.

The next thing we knew, Harry was on his Firebolt and started to fly towards the egg but narrowly missed the flaming ball of fire that was aimed at him and missed the egg. He then flew towards us - the stands, that is - with the dragon on his tail. The dragon's tail went through the roof of the stands, narrowly missing the people in the process.

"Yeah!" Fred and George were screaming at the far back, "Nice work, Dragon!"

The stands were full of screams and shouts. I in the meantime, was stiff as a rock with fear coursing through my body like a tough wave at the beach. Sharing a look with Ginny, we silently agreed that Sakura was going to do more than murder us. She's going to bury Harry alive and hang me and Ginny over a fucking volcano. Okay, considering her personality, I'm exaggerating but it's not exactly impossible. And there's always Shaoran to stop her and show some mercy.

Eventually, the noise died down and people were all waiting in anticipation. There were small whispers here and there but many were silent. One minute passed. Two minutes. Three. Four.

"You don't think something happened, right?" Ginny whispered.

I shook my head, not wanting to believe the alternative. A few minutes later, there was a small dot in the sky. As it got bigger and bigger, I realized it wasn't a dot. It was-

"YES!" Hermione screamed. "YES!"

"Holy shit, he actually did it!" I was screaming along with Hermione, the both of us holding each other's hands tightly, cheering as Harry flew down towards to Golden Egg with his Firebolt. He was slightly singed with fire and black spots all over but who cares? I was relieved that he freaking survived.

When he came down and got the egg, everything was chaos. The entire Gryffindor house carried Harry on their shoulders back to the tower, where there was a huge party already set to take place. Fred and George turns out, nicked the kitchens again although with the house elves working there, I'm pretty sure they just gave everything to them. Everyone was chanting Harry's name as the crowd passed the egg to him.

"Come on, Harry!" Seamus shouted over the crowd, which quieted down at his voice. "What's the clue?"

Everyone's eyes stared at Harry in anticipation.

"Who wants me to open it?" said Harry.

The entire house roared with applause and nodding.

Harry positioned the egg to a comfortable position with his one hand. He then opened the latch at the top of the egg with his free hand. A high-pitched scream eminated from the egg, making everyone, including me, drop to our knees and cover our ears in panic. In my current position, I saw Harry on the ground, struggling to close the egg. His fingers finally found the latch, and to everyone's relief, managed to close it without anyone damaging their hearing.

_"What the bloody hell was that?!"_ a voice said in astonishment and fear in his voice.

I scanned the crowd to see where and who it came from but deep down, I knew who it was. No one else that I knew would say "bloody hell" in times of distress. And sure enough, as the crowd parted for as though for me to see specifically who it was, Ron was standing at the portrait hole with his hands barely over his ears (I'm guessing he just started to remove them) now staring at a surprised Harry in a tentative position.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Hai! __I'm__ still in __India__ at the __moment__ so __I'm__ still alive __with__ this update! YAY XD_**

**_Either way, concerning the Wattys, if you __haven't__ shared this story on on Tumblr, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter with the tag, #MyWattysChoice, I'd suggest doing it ASAP if you want to vote! Winning something __would __be__ incredibly awesome so __I'd__ appreciate it if you do. :D_**

**_Do comment and/or __vote__ if you liked it!_**


	21. Blackmail

**Chapter 18: Blackmail**

Hermione, Ginny and I just stood there, watching Harry and Ron back and forth. I seriously hoped that Ron wouldn't be a dick right now. As he shuffled to the middle where Harry was, he glanced at me, silently sending me a desperate look with his eyes. Huh. The idiot was actually trying to apologize. I crossed my arms and glared at him in response, silently sending him an message to not mess things up. And let me tell you, that was the first gesture I've shown him all day.

"Come on, everyone," I heard Fred announce to the crowd. "This won't be pretty enough without you lot nosing in."

Some of the crowd separated but most stayed exactly where they were. Harry and Ron were now in a tense standoff, simply staring at each other. After a uncomfortable minute later, it was Ron who first spoke up.

"Uh...I reckon anyone must be barking mad to put their name in the cup." Ron was now looking down at his feet, quietly shuffling them.

"Have you now?" Harry answered sarcastically. "Took you long enough."

Another deadly silence hung in the air. Again, Ron was the first to speak. "Well...at least I warned you about the dragons."

Harry eyebrows scrunched into tiny wrinkles on his forehead in confusion. "Hagrid warned me about the dragons."

That's when I realized two things: a) the suspicion that Harry was with Hagrid last night was confirmed and b) Ron had already seen them and that with these two idiots standing before me weren't talking to each other, had used Hermione as an human owl to deliver the news. Jezz, no wonder she was fuming yesterday afternoon.

"No, no, I did," Ron protested. "I told Seamus to tell Dean, to tell Hermione that Hagrid was looking for you last night. Just thought that you know..." he shrugged in a not-so-casual way, the desperation clear the way he was standing, "...we'd be alright. Thought you could figure things out."

"Who - what - w-who could possibly figure that out?" Harry said, now smiling and I was sure as hell that he was going to start laughing in ten seconds but unfortunately it didn't happen. "It's completely mental."

Ron chuckled nervously. He scratched the back of his red hair awkwardly as they both silently made their peace with an handshake and a pat on each other's shoulder.

I sighed in relief. Beside me, Hermione looked like someone had given her headache medicine. But even then, she had an air of frustration around her as she whispered with utter disbelief in her tone, "_Boys!_ They are utter idiots..."

Ginny and I shared a wary look. I raised both of my eyebrows, sending a quick message that said, _Yeeeah I kinda agree with her. _Ginny rolled her eyes and nodded. Which in her case, I guess she knew what she was talking about. She's lived with six boys her entire life.

Life at Hogwarts did not get any simpler. I figured it's better to say _simpler_ than _easier_ because the easy route is so not an option anymore. Ginny and I continued to put the secret enchantments into the alongside the one already protecting Hogwarts. It used to be so easy. But now it drained nearly all of our strength and unable to function half the time during school. And besides, with the tournament lasting the entire year, the last thing we needed was Princess Morbucks. But it's only a matter of time before the professors find out, and I think Dumbledore knew about the extra spells and curses that we put up but he hadn't said anything that might hint that he knew. But this is Dumbledore we're talking about. I would honestly be shocked if he _didn't_ have a clue about what we were doing. With that said, the professors announced a "Yule Ball," so we can socialize with with the with the other two schools. Meaning: we had to get actual dates for the dance or risk going alone.

Just great. At least I had a dorky Zack as my date.

And that brings us to the all too familiar portal to Fairy Tail. By keeping that portal open, me and Hermione broke legitimately every single rule of messing with time there was, one of the more obvious, which I think was: _Don't mess with time? _And yet...during History of Magic with Binns teaching us about Fairy Tail at random moments on the clock, nothing had changed in the textbooks. By the way, when I meant teach, I meant that while Binns was writing on the chalkboard, almost all of us went to sleep out of boredom. Even me for that matter, which is why I've been getting majority of my history notes from Hermione since second year.

So what in the world was that titbit of info supposed to mean? Answer: _I dunno_. As I'm saying this, all I was hoping for was that Hermione and I didn't get our arses kicked into detention by McGonagall because again, the portal was not supposed to exist.

As I'm making my way to the portal one day, which was hidden behind Hagrid's hut and in the bushes, I heard twigs snapping behind me. The minute I stopped running, the sound stopped and I turned around to see if anyone was there.

"Huh," I muttered to myself. "Nobody."

I turned around again and ran towards the hut. However, I heard the crunching of twigs again and froze. This was bad. I was halfway to the hut but if I ran the person behind would surely follow me. Great.

I took out my wand out of my bag and waited. I bid my time. I took two steps and as soon as I heard the crunching sound of twigs, I shouted as quickly as I turned, _"Immobulus!"_

Breathing heavily, I saw the pale complexion of Draco Malfoy. His eyes were bulging out in panic as I folded my arms across my chest and examined the situation. His body was frozen in the same creeping position that I caught him in.

"Well, well," I said rather neutrally, which surprised even me because part of me wanted to roast him alive over a nice little campfire. "What do you want, Draco? A death wish?"

Draco couldn't open his mouth to speak, so with a flick of my wand, I unfroze his face. Flexing his jaw, he retorted, "To see your little face smashed into a rock."

"Yeah...I don't think that's going to work." I plastered a fake smile on my face and took a step towards him, my face about two inches away from his. "You see, part of me wants to chop you into bits." I formed a water sword into my right hand and pointed it at his throat. "Part of me wants to burn you alive and another part wants to leave you hear like this for eternity."

I felt a tiny pull in my gut as a thin layer of ice formed around him. Malfoy was now grunting, trying to escape to no avail. But I wasn't going to risk the wrath of McGonagall when she finds out that I was going to freeze him, let alone roast him into a tasty marshmellow. So I willed the ice to recede and my sword disappeared.

"What?" Malfoy said smugly, "You too scared to kill me?"

"No, but I will rearrange your face if you want to, you filthy little scumbag."

That shut up Malfoy quick. He glared furiously at me. "So where's that portal of yours? I know you have it hidden inside the forest somewhere."

It felt as though a shard of glass was stabbed into my heart. My voice falttered. "What portal?" I said a little too quickly.

"You honestly thought that you and Granger escaped prying eyes? The two of you together is more suspicious than our previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers."

I couldn't find my voice. Holy fucking shit. The little creep had been actually following us. He knew. See, the thing is that it's often rumored that if people saw me and Hermione together, whether if it was sharing notes or even if we were just talking, it would be the end of the world. (Hell, even Erza and Lucy often mentioned it.) Sure, I never really shared a rivalry with her but ever since a troll incident our first year on Halloween involving her, Harry and Knucklehead himself, we never really talked outside of our respective group of friends until this year. I guess I couldn't argue with him in that sense.

"Give it up, Patel," Malfoy sneered. "What are you two hiding? Shoot or I reveal that you and Potter are related."

My insides froze and then melted at the same time. If I puched him, bye bye privacy for me. If I didn't and let him go, there's a chance he'll find out what we were really hiding.

"You wouldn't do that," I said with confidence. My brain was racing to think of something to throw him off track. "Not while I'm around."

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

I did some quick thinking. "Well...if you did, won't that mean that you would get killed?"

Malfoy's face went whiter than it already was. "W-what? You're bluffing."

"Oh no," I said. Putting my hand to my mouth in a dramatic gasp, I made a tsk sound, shaking my head and patting his shoulder. "It looks like no one told you. Assuming that your parents still - oh, I don't know, work for the Dark Lord - don't you think that once the news gets out, he'll realized that your family withheld info from him?"

"N-now I know you're-"

"I know what you're thinking," I whispered venomously, "but think: you really want Voldemort hunting you down once he comes back?"

Even while frozen, Malfoy was visibly shaking. I broke him out of his little prison just as I registered what I said and how that affected Malfoy. It was common knowledge that his parents used to be supporters of Voldemort. _But...are they seriously still working for that bastard?!_

But I didn't have time to ponder on it. Malfoy sprinted like mad away from me. Once he was about six feet away from me, he screamed, "I'LL GET YOU, YOU LITTLE BITCH! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY!"

At that point, I realized that I didn't care about my little secret getting out. Keeping the portal to Fairy Tail away from sneaky bastards was and will always be my first and foremost priority.

Malfoy didn't get time to run further away. I mean, the idiot ran like a mouse. Fast, but not quick enough from my years of running around during fencing lessons. I caught up to him within fifty seconds and my fist met his face. As if on cue, two hexes flew out from both sides. Malfoy's face was now bubbling with boils that nearly made me want to puke. He then scrambled up to his feet and ran as if his life depended on it. Stealing a glance from my left and right sides, I found Cody and Ron respectively standing with their wands at their sides with their jaws on the ground.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, "no wonder you and Hermione get along so well."

"Hi, Knucklehead," I said as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Shaking my hand in the air, I asked, "What in the world are you and Cody doing here?"

"We found him going off after you," Cody said.

"You know a simple _thank you_ is in order, Twit," said Ron.

In response, I stuck my tongue out at him. Ron rolled his eyes. I started to walked towards Hagrid's hut. The two tried to follow but I put up a Shield Charm behind me and continued walking. Behind the hut, there was the usual hiding place for the portal that was no longer safe. It was sad, really. Hermione and I always gave Hagrid a short visit before we headed off to the guild. He was the only person who knew about it and surprisingly kept shut about it from Harry and Ron. Eh, that might be Hermione's handiwork though. I don't know.

I pointed my wand at the portal and said, _"Reducio."_

The mirror like portal shrunk to the size of my hand. Picking it up, I went to where Nikki the Night Fury was.

"Hey girl," I said softly. I kneeled down to her height and gave her a scratch behind her ears. My toes eventually giving in, I sat down and let Nikki rest her head on my lap as I had my hand on top of it. "Oh, what the hell am I going to do?"

Nikki purred gently. "I mean," I scoffed, "putting around a barrier for Morbucks is one thing but..."

I sighed as Nikki got up from my lap and gave me a lick, which for some reason lifted my spirits as I laughed.

"Okay, girl, take it easy!" I continued laughing until my uniform was soaking wet. "T-take it easy."

Nikki was now staring at me innocently. That's when I got an idea. I got out my wand again, laid down the puny portal and said, _"Engorio."_

The portal grew back into its original size. Nikki sniffed the air as though there was yummy fish in the trees.

"Nikki," I said, "Can you guard this portal?"

The Night Fury tilted her head. Then about a minute later, she pounced to the entrance of the portal and growled. I smiled. "Now the only people you're allowed to enter are me, Hermione and Zack, if he finds out that is. Which, he inevitably will," I muttered under my breath. "...and anyone else me or Hermione bring with us. Got it?"

Once I got the dragon's understanding, I gave her a kiss on the top of her head and once I explain some more rules about guarding it (aka letting the guild members through in case of an emergency), I put a forest cloak on top of it so that it blended in with the forest and marched back to the castle.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Hey guess what?! IT'S TWO UPDATES AT THE SAME TIME DAY!_**

**_(Okay, I made that day up. Who cares XD)._**

**_Yup! You guys are getting two full written chapters on the same day! So hope you enjoy the next chapter. It's going to be a doozy. Sayonara everyone! :) Vote and/or comment if you liked it!_**


	22. An Unfortunate News Flash

**Chapter 19: An Unfortunate News Flash**

I stormed past Cody and Ron with a headache and a desperate need of asprin.

"Hermione's in the library, isn't she?" I asked.

Ron nodded in a confused state. "Why do you need Hermione?"

I threw him an annoyed look. "Why? Shouldn't I?"

Both Ron and Cody were in a state where they couldn't get their mouths to say anything.

"Hm. That's what I thought." I swirled around and before I was two feet away from them, I pointed my finger at Ron and told him, "Never mention a word of this to Harry. Understood?"

He nodded again and I marched over to the library with my arms crossed. Ugh, I hated Malfoy! What the hell did he have in mind anyway?

Entering the library, I continued to walk past Madame Prince and finally found Hermione with Jay in the Potions section.

"I need to talk to you, stat," I said tiredly.

"Where's Ginny?"

"She's in Herbology. And besides, this info is for your ears only, Granger. Especially considering..._faires_, if you know what I mean," I added to Hermione's utter astonishment.

"Hey, Subha," Jay asked with concern in her voice, "Are you okay?"

"...Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Just...you seem a bit off right now."

"Trust me, cuz. I'm fine." I ruffled her hair.

Hermione, meanwhile, shook her shock away and followed me to a different area of the library. I told her about Malfoy finding out about the portal and Cody and Ron's subsequent rescue.

_"What?!"_ Hermione nearly screamed had I not put my hand over her mouth. After she calmed down, said whispered, "Subha, what do you do?!"

"Try punching him in the face," I grumbled and Hermione smiled. "Also, after I dealt with him, I moved the portal someplace else. Good news, it's out of sight. Bad news is that it'll be even more suspicious if we went down to the portal every other day.

"Okay, good," she sighed in relief. "But you have a point. Our visits to Fairy Tail have been kind of out of wack."

_"Kind of?!"_

"You get my point! Anyway, I'll keep my mouth shut from Harry and Ron."

I put my hands up in a prayer and thanked her profusely. "It's official. You understand me quicker than Zack and Cody do."

Hermione went slightly pink and rolled her eyes. The bell started ringing, signaling that break has ended.

"Come on, Patel," said Hermione. She pushed me out of the library all the way into Charms.

The next few weeks were a blur. Classes went on as usual and Professor Moody's lessons were getting more weirder by the minute. With the Yule Ball nearing, everyone was in a state of absolute panic (Or anxiety. Whichever works.) and so absolutely no one was paying attention in class. Some of the teachers have recognized this and have gone easy on us. One example was during Charms, where Flitwick just let us play a little with some spells and such. Even if he wanted to teach though, I highly doubt that he would have been able to do so. The others, however...not so much. The current chaos didn't faze McGonagall one bit as she loaded us with Transfiguration homework by the day. Even Hermione had slight trouble paying attention in class, which was kind of surprising.

"Just because the Yule Ball is coming up," McGonagall had said sharply at the end of the class before Christmas Break, "Does not mean that it's an excuse to act like a bumbling band of baboons. I'd expect Gryffindor house to not ruin the reputation of the school as well as the house itself."

Potions was worse. Snape was driving poor Neville insane again, causing him to mess up on the Forgetfulness Potion, which blew up in his face and had to be taken down to the hospital wing. He tortured the rest of the Gryffindors, particularly Harry to no end. The Slytherins as usual, hated me during Potions as Snape never came near me once during the entire ordeal. Pansy Parkinson tried to add extra amounts of the necessary ingredients in my potion but that failed miserably on her part as Hermione blocked them away as soon as she saw them.

Saturday, however, before the first week of Christmas break...was a whole different story. To be honest, I expected it at this point and was prepared for it to finally get around the school. However, I never thought that it would have reached every single corner of Britain. So I got an unpleasant surprise when I sat down at the Gryffindor table that morning, which was about three to four owls, one of them was from Sakura and another bearing the name Finnigan.

I turned towards Seamus. "Oi! I think I got your letter by mistake!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Seamus yelled back. "I already got a letter from my mum!"

_Wait, what?! Then what the hell is this letter...?_

"Can't believe that witch," Hermione said furiously. "First Harry, then Hagrid and now me!"

"Hermione, what's going on?" I asked her worriedly as she glared furiously at the paper that she was reading, stabbing the bacon that was on her plate with a fork into pieces.

"Rita Skeeter," Hermione replied. "That women just doesn't know when to stop. Honestly, doesn't she have anything better to do than to ruin people's-" She stopped abruptly when she lowered her eyes down on the paper until they widened in shock. "Um...S-Subha? Have you read the p-paper this morning, by any chance?"

I shook my head and scoffed. "No. Gin wouldn't even let me see the damn paper and Ron told me to fake being sick until the Ball. Zack and Cody were being really secretive and refused to give me a copy of _The Daily Prophet_. Harry told me to take Ron's advice and tried to take me down to the hospital wing but I outsmarted him. I ran into Jay, Nive and Bailey and they refused to give me a copy as well. I even asked Hagrid and he said no."

Hermione sighed in relief. "Good. Can't believe I'm saying this but I'd suggest taking Ron's-"

She didn't finish her sentence as I grabbed the paper out of her hand. "Sorry, Granger. I'm done playing nice."

She stared at me, her hands frozen in the direction I pulled the paper from with a horror-struck expression and for some reason, I felt almost everyone's eyes boring onto my back. And I mean _everyone_. The entire Hall had turned deadly silent as Harry, Ron and Ginny came dashing in, cast a horrified look at Hermione, who shot back a desperate and apologetic look. Even the teachers wouldn't be this silent.

"Subha..." Hermione and Ginny trailed off warily. Hermione put her fist in her mouth to contain herself from screaming as I read from the front page and worked my way into the middle. _Well, now I know why Hermione was mad as hell._ It had a picture of her and Harry sharing a hug in a heart, with the caption of whether Hermione was playing with the so-called "affections" of Harry and Viktor Krum. At the bottom of the page, however, is where everything started to go downhill. One reason was because there was a picture of me and Harry that we took at the World Cup. _(How the hell did she get a hold of that photo to begin with?!)_ The second reason was the article below the picture, which read:

**DOES HARRY POTTER HAVE MORE WIZARDING RELATIVES?!**

_In a recent researching about Potter's family tree, it has come to our attention that maybe not all the living family members of his are muggles. Enter Subha Patel, a stunningly pretty fourth-year Gryffindor at Hogwarts who has hair as black as the midnight sky with eyes that change color, from Potter's shade of green when happy to a ghastly amber when angry._

I looked up from the paper and glanced at Hermione, Harry and this was why they were so keen on keeping it away from me._ Shit. Malfoy actually went and did it. _I kept reading the next page with a more horrified expression:

_It was reported that Patel is Harry Potter's godsister, stemming from Lily Potter being her godmother. Lily, before her untimely death, was previously best friends with Priya Patel, a pureblood wizard who was killed shortly after Lily. Potter and Patel's closest friends and family had known about this mind blowing secret for more than four years, namely being the Weasleys, the Martin twins (who come from high noble blood), Nive Kumar, Jay Singh and last but not least, muggle-borns Bailey Pickett and Hermione Granger._

I glanced up again as Zack and Cody entered the Hall and screeched to a stop next to Harry. Bailey, Nive and Jay got up from the Ravenclaw table as eyes followed them to ours. Fred and George pretended to be very interested with their food under Lee Jordan's raised eyebrow. The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team stared at the twins and the rest of us with their jaws hanging open. Cho Chang gave Nive and Jay a simple wide-eyed look and then continued to stare at me and Harry. Yeah, things got from bad to worse right about then.

"Oh crap," whispered Cody.

"We're too late, aren't we?" said Zack.

"Oh hell yeah," Ginny answered, pushing back her red hair with two hands.

"Oh no, this is my fault," whimpered Hermione. She had her head in her hands, almost ready to cry.

"No, it's not, Hermione, we should've warned you beforehand," Ron tried to assure her to no avail.

"And b-besides," said Harry, "I shouldn't have lost her on the way to the hospital wing."

I gulped and faced Harry. "It gets worse, doesn't it?"

He nodded reluctantly as I plowed through the rest of the article:

_"I actually found out through Arthur Weasley," said Amos Diggory, a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. "I got suspicious during the World Cup and confronted him shortly after the event."_

_Diggory also reports that Potter and Patel have another godsister living in Japan. Her name is Sakura Kinomoto, an apparent descendant of the famous wizard Clow Reed, and a childhood friend of Patel and Ginny Weasley._

_"Father had always known something was up when he saw that Kinomoto girl with the Weasleys at the World Cup," said Draco Malfoy, a handsome fourth year. "He told me that he overheard Weasley and Diggory talking about Potter and Patel. I always thought that Subha Patel was an attention hog. She's just after Potter's fame." _(Steam was coming out of my ears at this point. That's how angry I was.)

_Hogwarts Champion Cedric Diggory has completely refused to comment on the breaking news._

_"It's their business," said Diggory, "I have no right to say anything about that, and from my point of view, I always saw Subha as a gentle soul, always quick to help others."_

_Sources have yet to report on how the rest of the school feels about this latest news._

I started breathing heavily as I swung my head between Harry and Ginny. I stood up, crumpled up the paper and threw it at the Slytherin table, which with my bad aim and current anger, went flying over Malfoy's head...and hit Pansy Parkinson right in the face. I couldn't care less about detention at this point. I grabbed my head and started shaking it desperately. "Nononono, this can't be happening. How that bloody hell did that witch called Rita Skeeter find out about Sakura?!"

"And guess who's murdering Malfoy?" Harry asked bluntly. He started to calmly walk away with his wand in hand.

"Harry James Potter, get back here, now!" I immediately pulled his hand to sit beside me. I managed to calm myself down by slowing down my breathing. I wanted nothing more to punch him even I knew I had to wait. "Not now. Everyone's staring. There's nothing we can do about this now. At least Cedric's a last hope for humanity."

"Maybe," he grumbled, taking a toast from my plate.

"Okay..." said Bailey. "What now?"

I shrugged, my brain emotionally exhausted from the article. "I don't know? Wait for it to blow over?"

Hermione sighed. "Subha, Harry, I have a feeling that this is the one piece of news that won't go away as time moves on."

"Oh joy," I said sarcastically.

"To be honest though, I kinda expected this anyway," said Harry.

"We better get back to our table," said Jay. "Everyone's staring in our direction and Fleur Delacour is giving us a rather strange look."

"Almost every single person is giving us one, you idiot!" said Nive, hitting her older cousin on the head. Jay rolled her eyes in response as the three of them headed back to the Ravenclaw table.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Told you so! XD I'm still in India at the moment but I will be back and going in America on September 4th! See you till then!_**


	23. The Christmas Prank

**Chapter 20: Christmas Prank**

"Natsu, Lucy," I said calmly, "Can you do the honor of killing me?"

"Wait, what?!" the both of them cried out. Lucy had a horror-struck look on her face as she registered what I just said. "Are you crazy?"

Natsu pounded his fist on the table. "At least think about what you want before you have a death wish!"

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Oh please do," added Hermione. "Ever since that morning, I have been getting hate mail because of that stupid article about me and Harry! It's driving _me_ crazy!"

Hermione and I were visiting Fairy Tail two days before the ball. With the secret that me and Harry were related out, for the past few days I haven't been able to - well, it's not as bad as Hermione's but still - escape random owls during breakfast asking whether I was doing this for attention. I even got some letters asking whether I helped Harry put his name in the goblet. Like what in the actual Hades. This was exactly the reason why I wanted it under wraps. As for Hermione...uh, let's just say that the week has not been kind to her. Now people thought that she and Harry were dating, which I'll be honest, kinda grossed me out. Poor Harry had a hard time convincing people that Hermione wasn't his girlfriend and Hermione vice versa.

As we passed by Hagrid's hut today, the poor guy was surveying me in utter confusion before Hermione asked him whether he had actually read the paper or just hid it from me because Harry and Ron told him to. Coming to the guild was the first moment of peace we've had all week.

"Sure," said Snotlout. He was a slightly buff viking with a helmet and none of the brains. "Which one of you beautiful ladies would like to be blinded-"

"Oh, go away, Snotlout," said Hermione tiredly. Her head was on the table, hidden inside her arms, so her voice was slightly muffled. "Before I punch your face and have Hookfang burn you into ashes."

Hiccup and Astrid were visiting today as well and brought Fishlegs, (which his tiny little legs suggest, to be honest) the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, (two blonde idiots of fraternal twins with no brain whatsoever) and Snotlout, as I mentioned earlier.

"You have no idea how much we want to do that," said Astrid. She sat beside me with a mug of beer on the table. "But really, Snotlout isn't worth the trouble."

"Wouldn't it be better if you can just hex or simply punch him like Subha did with Malfoy?" asked Hiccup. "That would give me some peace for the next few days."

"Really, Hiccup?"

"That would be nice," I admitted. "Cody and Ron did that before I even got a chance."

"You told me you punched him!" Hermione cried out.

"I said I punched him, not hexed him!"

"Either way, we know just what might cheer you two up." Erza stood up and went to the request board at the right end of the hall.

Hermione and I stole a knowing glance from Hiccup and Astrid. Our idea of cheering someone up was to practice some magic combat. Erza's idea of cheering us up was often taking us on one of her missions. (Wait no. That was Natsu or Elfman's idea most of the time.) I guess that's the same as practice in combat but either way, it made us tired more often than happy.

"Wait, Erza. That's not it," Lucy said with a sigh. Then she shared a smirk with Juvia, who was walking across the hall carrying two thin rectangular boxes. "We were hoping to give you guys these tomorrow but...since we have back up Christmas gifts-"

"-we necessarily couldn't wait," Juvia finished. She had reached the table and put one box in front of me and another in front of Hermione. Sharing a blank expression, we ripped open the lids of our respective gifts.

What I found in mine was the most absolutely beautiful lightning blue dress in the world.

Taking it out, I unfolded it and put it over my body and twirled. The entire gown was decorated with white snowflakes that looked so realistic that I had to take a closer look to see if it was cloth. The dress was sleeveless obviously with a flat neck line, but inside the box had long white gloves that reached up to my elbow.

Hermione's was not a sleeveless dress but it was sky blue with a V-neck and the bottom half of her gown had layers of cloth sticking out to give it more of a fluff factor. She also had those long gloves, except there were the same color as her dress. It was a little more simple compared to mine but it was grand all on its own. Our dresses suited our own personalities.

We were both speechless. "Luce...Juvia...how-what-"

But all Lucy did was hold up her hand with a smile. "Don't say anything. It's a gift from Juvia and I."

"Merry Christmas, you two," Juvia said. She walked up to us and gave a big hug. "You'll look absolutely beautiful in them."

Tears started to form at the corners of my eyes. Yeah, I considered Fairy Tail as a normal part of my life now. I even considered them as family at this point. But to think that they went through the trouble of actually getting us something as a gift out of love and friendship was worthwhile of the fact that we were breaking every single law about time there was, let alone the school itself. I put an arm around her waist as me and Hermione both buried ourselves in her shoulders.

* * *

><p>Waking up on Christmas morning early was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because of all of the presents to open. A curse because I apparently had my alarm clock set to Hermione screaming her head off. So I ended waking up at six in the morning, half asleep and cranky as I went down to the common room in my pajamas. I had a sneaking suspicion that someone put a sleep spell over the students because no one else woke up with me. Seriously, Ginny and Pavarti Patil were still sleeping like logs.<p>

"Granger, what the bloody hell?!" I shouted. I found Hermione sitting at the Christmas tree with her mouth open. She was holding two small boxes, with one of them already opened. "Hey...um, what's wrong?"

"Subha..." her voice cracked. "Y-you better open your present."

I took the box that Hermione handed over to me and sat down on one of the armchairs. Taking off the blue ribbons, I removed the lid only to find exactly why Hermione was screaming like a banshee.

Inside the box were two black earrings, in the shape of a fairy with a tail.

_Oh Jesus effing Christ,_ I thought. _So this is what Luce and Juvia meant by when they said they had back up._

"Are they serious?!" I cried out.

"Yup." Hermione's voice was a octave higher. "And what's more-" she dug into her box, found a folded piece of paper and gave it to me. "-these aren't ordinary earrings."

I unfolded the paper and found that it was in Lucy's cursive handwriting:

_These earrings are really rare, even in our times. Not knowing what color to customize them, we had them made so that they change colors according to the color of your outfits._

_We'll admit that it was Meena and Mizu's idea in the end though. Hope you both enjoy them!_

_~Lucy and Juvia_

I was shell-shocked. First off, the two risked getting caught by Filch and/or Peeves, somehow convinced The Fat Lady to let them in and left these beauties under the tree. Undetected. Either that, or they somehow managed to get an owl or apparated into the tower. We have seriously underestimated how these guys can be when they put their minds to something.

I sighed and put them on. I shook my head so that they swayed along with my head. "Well, how do I look?"

Hermione tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "Less like a banshee who just got out of bed."

I threw a pillow at her in response. "Says the one who screamed like one."

A few seconds later, we both burst out laughing in the silence of the common room.

"Come on," Hermione said as she stood up, "Let's go open up the rest of our presents."

We marched up to our bunk beds to find Ginny and everyone awake.

"Nice earrings," said Ginny. "Where did you get them?"

"Uh..." I racked my brain to find something to say. "Anonymous Christmas present."

Ginny arched an eyebrow and scowled. She nodded but her eyes said that she didn't believe a word I just said but played along. What did I expect anyway? She's my best friend. She was going to make me spill the beans sooner or later. _Oh boy._

"Mum's sweater is on top of the pile," Ginny said as she started opening her pile of gifts. "Mine's the one below Velma's and Sakura's."

"Thanks," I replied. "Mine's next to Daphne's."

Sure enough, as Ginny said, Mrs. Weasley's blue hand knitted sweater with an gold "S" was sitting right on top of the pile, along with some chocolate cake. Daphne's gift was a pair of stilettos and an emerald necklace.

"She's joking, right?" I said. I held the high heels by my fingers with a disgruntled look. "Daph knows I hate stilettos."

"God, don't remind me," said Blossom. She made a gagging gesture. "The last time Brick and I saw _Morbucks _in them, I avoided anything that had to do with high heels."

"Wait, Princess was wearing high heels?" Bubbles and Buttercup shot a look of disbelief at their sister.

"Good," I said to Blossom as I threw her the stilettos. "Then you can give them to her for me."

Hermione gave her's, which turned out to be that phoenix feather quill I had my eye on at Hogsmade. A dozen of mismatched socks told me that it was from Dobby. Sakura's present was a old antique flower clip that her mother used to own with a note that she had a lot like them so she gave me and Ginny one. Ron must have had psychic powers becasue I was looking at a miniature broom cleaning set for my Nimbus. Harry's was a small fur booklet with the pictures of me and my best friends and our parents. Ginny's turned out to be emerald earrings.

"Daphne sent me a letter last week to tell me to get a matching set of earrings," Ginny told me later rather sheepishly as I tried the matching set on.

Hermione and Ginny both opened their gifts from me, which was a few history books from Jodha's library for Hermione and a fake snitch that I made, which would provide help with homework for Ginny. Everyone else, I got a bunch of sweets from Honeydukes.

As you can tell, I'm _great_ at gifts.

About then, we heard a soft _boom _and a shrill scream coming from the boy's side of the common room. _"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!"_

All of the girls looked at me. I tried to pull a fake innocent smile on my face but no one seemed to be buying it. "What?"

"What did you do this time, Subha?" Ginny asked sternly. But since she and the rest of the girls were trying to suppress a smile, that tone didn't fit well as they went into silent fits of giggles and laughter.

"Every single Christmas," Lavender Brown said as she smashed her face onto a pillow to muffle her laughter. "Patel, you never fail to amuse me."

I shrugged and took a bow. Well, it was impossible to hide that Ron and I were infamous for pulling pranks on each other every Christmas.

"The smoke is starting to get here," said Bubbles, who was giggling madly. "Let's go see how the guys are holding up."

Most of the girls in the dorm followed Bubbles down the steps. She stopped right at the second to last step and held out her hand in a stop motion. Of course some of us were able to see the scenario. Almost everyone was covered in black ink at some part of their bodies (yes, surprisingly even Fred and George) but Ron's face was completely black, his freckles practically invisible. That sight alone made everyone start laughing again before Blossom shushed us.

"Subha's at it again," said Neville.

"How did she get up there anyway?!" Seamus and Brick said in unison.

"Honestly." Ron stormed up to the boy's tower and a minute later, came back with a box that had red polka-dot wrapping paper. "You'd think that four years later, you'd be able to distinguish between _this-" _He thrust the open box at Neville, who looked super guilty but at the same time, was trying to hold in laughter. "-and a normal non-suspicious looking box?!"

"Dude." Boomer snickered. "You're overreacting. You're also forgetting the fact that Subha is unpredictable when it comes to her pranks. She wouldn't be stupid to use the same prank twice."

"Although," said George, who along with Fred had their red hair partially covered in ink, "when it comes to Ronnie-kins-"

"-It's possible to use the same thing twice," finished Fred.

Ron glowered at them. Harry took of his glasses, which seemed to have taken part of the blow on him, and started cleaning them with his T-shirt. "Speaking of which," he started to say, "What _did _Subha do this time?"

"A smoke bomb filled with black ink," the twins said in unison. "After the explosion, small fireworks were supposed to spell out_ 'Merry Christmas, Knucklehead'_."

When the others raised an eyebrow, Fred said, "What? You thought that we wouldn't take the chance to prank our own brother?"

Cody rolled his eyes. "You guys got caught in it as well."

The twins smirked and gave a lopsided smile. "Your point?"

"Well," said Brick. "It can't be worse than seeing Princess Morbucks in high heels."

"Say what now?" Butch and Boomer stared at him with their jaws on the floor.

"Who's Princess Morbuck?" asked Dean.

Brick glared at him with a look that said _Knock it off. _Zack rubbed his temples. "She's his freaking ex. I met her this summer and she's not what you would call kind and good."

I nearly stumbled of my step and into Bubbles. Brick dated Princess? I locked eyes with Blossom, who silently nodded.

"Please tell me you're joking," Ginny pleaded. "Blossom, she will use this-"

"She already tried to do that this summer." Blossom's expression was grim. She then noticed the other girls with us. "I-I'll explain later."

"Well, whatever," Harry said. "Let's just hope that Subha doesn't strike again."

Ron glared at Harry incredulously. "What?! You don't think that I can't-"

Harry cut him off. "First of all, half of the pranks you attempted to pull backfired on you. Second, for just this year, can you _please_ not pull pranks on each other?"

"For once, I agree with Harry," said Butch. He put his hands up in the air. "As much as I love to laugh at people getting pranked, some of us actually want to be intact with no body parts affected for tonight."

"For once?!" Harry protested.

No one said anything. Even Ron didn't attempt to argue, although it may be in respect to their repaired friendship.

After that little fiasco, we all got ready into our winter gear and went outside to the Black Lake after having breakfast. We even had a bit of a snowball fight with some of the boys. When we got a small break, I pulled Ginny and Blossom aside.

"Alright," I whispered. "Spill, Utonium."

Blossom sighed and recounted her encounter with Princess at Jodha's castle. I noticed her maneuver her way through the parts about Erza, Hiccup and Astrid.

"So let me get this straight," said Ginny. "You, Zack and Brick found a castle on the outskirts of the village that my family lives in, and while exploring, you found out that Princess was poking around for an ancient necklace?!" She held up her hands in surrender. "Nope. I'm sorry, but it just don't make sense. Especially if-"

"-if a particular ruby pendant that Binns talked about exists?" I pulled out the pendant from under my jacket. "Flitwick also talked about this last year when going over the magical properties of an object."

Ginny stared at me with her mouth slightly gaping at me. "How - what-"

Blossom grunted. "You sound like me and Hermione."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Okay. So the legend is real and you're Jodha's descendant. Now what?"

I inhaled sharply. I wish I knew. What Ginny and I were doing was running around in circles looking for answers. The warning that Eriol gave me was still unnerving. _Please be careful how you go about hiding Hogwarts. Princess is not a ordinary threat as you believe._

Well gee, I thought. Thanks for that obvious warning, Hiiragizawa. Meantime, my best friends and I will drain all of our magic energy everyday keeping Princess away while trying to figure out what Princess's mother had to do with my family tree.

I sighed, the cold air creating some fog as I exhaled. "Ginny...are we doing the right thing?"

"I don't know, Subha." Ginny stared at me with desperation in her eyes. "Are we?"

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Okay, I tried to have this chapter be the Yule Ball chapter but...gah. I hate it when things don't go according to plan. *sighs*_**

**_Look forward to it next chapter! And expect it to be a little longer than the previous chapters. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm rushing through Subha's 4th year at Hogwarts but I don't want this to fanfic to have like 200 chapters. I'll go over a few more chapters of her fourth year, then head straight on into her 5th because there's a few important people that will be introduced during that time. (Also, me getting to write the name Toadface Umbridge is a bonus.)_**


	24. The Yule Ball Disaster (Part 1)

**Chapter 21: The Yule Ball Disaster** **(Part 1)**

I so did not look "hot." That was the last thing I wanted to go for in my lightning blue dress. But as I twirled, the bottom of my dress turning with me, I realized I was more than that.

Looking in the mirror, as I put a rose in my side braid, my Fairy Tail earrings had turned the same shade of blue as the dress. My eyes were glowing emerald. My ruby pendant hung on my neck like it was right at home.

"Subha?" Ginny called. "Are you-"

I turned around to find Ginny at the entrance, silently staring at me. She herself was in a soft pink dress with slight layers of white accenting her entire ensemble. "Subha, you look-"

I flashed a small smile. "I guess it should be enough for tonight."

Ginny continued to stare at me like I got captured by a bunch of eagles. "Should be enough? You're going to legitimately blind Zack with that dress!"

"Considering nothing goes wrong."

Ginny sighed and walked up to me. Grabbing my arms, she made me face her. "Look, nothing is going to happen. We already have Blossom on the lookout. If anything, the alternatives are our dates acting like complete morons."

I arched an eyebrow. "You're going with Neville."

"Does it matter?" Ginny returned the look. "You know Neville's different. But really Subha, what's going on? I feel like you're hiding something really big from me."

The way she studied me almost made me laugh and at the same time, part of me wanted to drag Ginny out of the common room and to the portal to Fairy Tail and scream,_ Oi, Juvia! I got a bit of a surprise for you! _That honestly seemed like a good idea for the next one minute. "Ginny, you definitely know me better than anyone else. But honestly, I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"I _am _your best friend," said Ginny. "What other confirmation do you need? Seriously, Subha, what's going on?"

I sighed. "Look, as my best friend, can you trust the fact that it'll all make sense in time? Because even I don't know what to make of half the bloody stuff I've heard and seen this year." I wasn't lying when I said this. Truth be told, what could I tell her? _Oh, hey, guess what? You remember those old stories your mum told us about Fairy Tail when we were young? Yeah, Hermione and I may have accidentally opened a time portal that enabled us to meet the strongest mages in history, which is hidden deep inside the forest guarded by Nikki the Night Fury, who coincidentally, followed Zack here of all places!_

You may be thinking, _Yes, exactly!_ But its a lot more complicated than that. Seriously, it makes as about much sense as my mum's death and past with Harry and Sakura's mothers.

Ginny snorted. "Fine, I will trust you. But you have to promise me that you will tell me as soon as possible."

I fist bumped her and linked arms. "Of course. By the way, is Granger already downstairs?"

"Yeah. Imagine the look on their faces when they find out who her date is."

"Oh gods." I started snickering so hard I could barely control myself as we went down the stairwell. "Knucklehead is going to have a heart attack."

We made it down around the same time my heart did a little tap dance. Zack had his messy hair combed back so he looked like a model in a black dress robe. He stood frozen in time as I got off the last step but his wide eyes sparkled as he stared at me.

"Oi, Neville!" Ginny ran from my side and towards Neville, who must have been waiting for her at the other side of the common room. She winked at me before disappearing with a nervous Neville behind the portrait hole.

Zack stared at me like he was looking at me for the first time. "You...you look stunning."

"Um..." My mind desperately searched for something to say. But for once, I was at a lose for words. "W-what's up with your hair? Are you trying to become a butler?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Same old Subha, no matter how beautiful you look. Cody made me comb it."

"Same old - wait, what?"

"Nothing," Zack said quickly. He held out his hand and cleared his throat. "Cody and Bailey are waiting for us."

_Oh I'm in deep, _I thought giddily as I took his hand. All thoughts of something bad happening tonight evaporated in an instant. We were near the portrait hole when we heard a scream.

"_You two are going down together?!" _I heard Buttercup scream.

We turned around. What I saw completely shocked my brain. Blossom was standing in a pink halter dress with her red hair in a jaded bun, a strand of curled hair hanging by her face. Brick was facing her with his red baseball hat gone and looking sharp in black dress robes.

"I must be dreaming," said Butch. A pint of blood had drained from his face. He peered over at Buttercup like _Is the end of the world_. She shrugged, as if agreeing that these two were a nuclear bomb about to go off at any given second.

Bubbles and Boomer were not amused in the slightest. At least in front of them.

"They're going as friends," said Bubbles. "We'll see you downstairs once you idiots are done gawking." She and Boomer passed us, arm in arm, laughing uncontrollably as they stepped out of the common room.

"I have to admit, Brick," Blossom said politely, "You cleaned up nicely."

"Oh, this?" Brick looked down at his dress robes as if they were the most normal thing in the world. "T-this is nothing."

Brick usually had an excellent poker face but this time, his eyes gave him away as they said something else. He was in total astonishment. I leaned towards Zack. "Ooo-kay," I whispered, "What type of voodoo magic did you perform over the summer?"

Zack just smiled and rolled his eyes as I heard an distinct "blind lovesick idiot in denial" under his breath. He then proceeded to lead me out of the common room.

* * *

><p>"Woah."<p>

The Great Hall was completely transformed. Icicles hung like decorative everywhere. The tables were covered in frost and snowflakes. It looked more majestic than most of the previous year Christmas decorations.

"Wow. Looks like the school's looking to impress, aren't they?" I said dryly.

"I don't think you have an idea," said a voice behind us. "It's actually mind-blowing."

Bailey Pickett stood in front of them with her light brown hair in a intricate bun and a red dress with the bottom scrunched up, making waves as she moved. "The amount of effort it took those icicle to hang in the air was not an easy one."

"Hey Pickett," I responded. "Where the ever loving hell is Cody?"

"He's talking to Dean," she said in a deadpan voice. "There are times when I want to punch Seamus and Dean."

I snickered. "You're not jealous, are you?"

Bailey's eyes grew the size of tennis balls, blushing furiously. _Ha-ha, payback time._ "W-What?! No! I-" She stopped as she noticed my raised eyebrow and the smirk appearing on my lips. She then crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Oh ha ha. Very funny."

"This is payback for that little conversation, Pickett. Where's Jay and Nive?"

"I made sure Jay and Nive are in the Ravenclaw common room. And pull as many pranks on me as you want. Cody is going to give you guys hell if he finds you two together."

Crap. We forgot to tell him that Zack and I were going to the ball together. "We'll figure something out," Zack said as he pulled me into the Great Hall, all the while avoiding Cody's wandering eyes until McGonagall appeared and introduced the four champions that were going to start off the dance.

"Zack, this is ridiculous," I hissed as Harry came in through the doors with Parvati Patil. "Cody's gonna find out eventually. Besides, we can't hide from them all night."

"Watch me," he muttered back.

I smacked my forehead as Hermione came in with Viktor Krum and Cedric came in with...Cho Chang. I felt a pang of sudden pity for Harry.

"Viktor asked Hermione?" Zack asked in a surprised tone. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "And I'm gonna guess you knew about this."

"Ginny and I did," I confirmed. "We kept it a secret knowing Ron will blow up and as Harry usually quotes when Ron and I fight, 'will take the mickey out of us' if he found out."

"Well, now that it's out in the open, no point in blowing up now, is it?"

I sighed and mentally prayed to god. "Oh, we can all hope."

The hall grew silent as the champions and their dates ended up in the middle. Flitwick tapped the music stand three times with his conductor stick and a quirky tune started to play. As I watched them, my mind danced in tune, my eyes becoming mesmerized. Hands switch from waist to waist, hand to another and the girl is lifted like a beautiful swan taking flight in air. The couple spins and the process starts again. A minute or two later, Dumbledore and McGonagall appeared hand in hand with applause and started dancing. Then Ginny and Neville. Then Cody and Bailey.

"That's it," I muttered under my breath and pulled Zack into the middle of the dance floor.

"Subha, what are you-" he started to say but I cut him off.

"Hands on my waist, now," I whispered. "We're dancing." He put a hand on my hip and we started to waltz with the rest of them. For some reason, as he lifted me in the air the first time around, my face grew warm. I tried to focus on something else other than the fact that I was dancing with my best friend. _Come on now._ _Footwork, footwork. That's right...pretend you're fencing..._

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Zack, slowing down. "You look like you want to pass out."

I tried to clear my head and looked up at him. God, he was so cute._ Why do I have a crush on an idiot again?_ "It's nothing. Don't wor-OW!"

Zack had stepped on my foot, not paying attention to our moving feet. "Sorry," he winced as he resumed the speed that we were going at previously. By the fourth time he lifted me, it felt more natural.

* * *

><p>"My heart is beating against my chest," I said to Ginny with a giddy smile on my face. An hour into the ball and Neville and Zack both went to get drinks for us. We both were sitting down at one of the group tables, leaning against the chairs. "I never felt this exhilarated in my entire life."<p>

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Ginny arched an eyebrow at me.

I punched her in the arm. "Shut up, Weasley."

"You walked into that one, Patel."

We both laughed as the band on stage started another song. Hermione and Viktor Krum ran out from the crowd came towards us.

"How's your time, Hermione?" I asked.

"Oh, it could be worse," said Hermione. "WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

The three of us started screaming as Zack and Neville brought in butterbeer.

"Here you go, M'lady," Zack curtsied as he offered my drink. I took a sip under Ginny and Hermione's suggestive glances, which sent the temperature of my face skyrocketing to forty degrees.

"Zack, please sit down," I managed to say without stuttering, which sent Hermione, Ginny and Neville into fits of laughter. I turned towards Viktor with a polite smile. "You can sit down as well, you know."

Krum arched his eyebrow and stared at me with an amused look. "You are not what the paper says. Hermy-ninny speaks highly of you."

Hermione turned slightly pink as I gave Krum a blank stare. "Your name came up as we talked about Harry," she said sheepishly.

Zack snickered. "Hermy-ninny? What's next, the nickname, Hermy? I might as well start calling Subha 'Su'."

I punched in the arm. "He means nothing by it," I said to Viktor. "It's just how we all get along."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "With that humor, I'm surprised that Ron gets along with Cody instead of you, Zack."

"Oh please," I scoffed. "As much as Zack and I hate to admit it, we have our own healthy dose of fear and respect for Ron and Cody."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"You don't believe me?"

Hermione put her hands up in truce. "I meant nothing by it. Speaking of which, where's Harry and Ron?"

I pointed to a bench that was a few feet away from us. "The nincompoops have been sitting there since the band started playing."

"Oh brother." Hermione stood up and walked over to them, all the while with a smile on her face. Viktor went to get drinks for him and Hermione while Ginny and Neville went off somewhere a minute or two later.

"So..." Zack started fiddling with his thumbs, a very strong sign that he was very nervous. "What now?"

I shrugged. "You tell me."

A soft and slow dance tune started to play. I glanced over at Zack furtively before pretending to check my fingernails. The song was in two minutes before he held out his hand and sighed. "Screw awkward. You want to dance?"

A blush was slowly working up to my cheeks but I managed to not let it show on my face as I nodded. we headed onto the dance floor and started dancing with him. With my arms around his neck, the song continued in a mournful tone as we danced. I couldn't help but rest my head lightly on his shoulder. It just felt..._warm._ I couldn't put my finger on it, even after two months.

I lifted my head up and for the first time, I really looked at him. And I mean, _really_ looked at him. His now messy blond hair was ruffled to make it look like he had been through a fight. His hazel eyes were mind numbingly mesmerizing. I would have kissed him right there and then...if it wasn't for one huge interruption.

A loud _ahem_ sounded out from my left. "Having fun?"

We immediately let go of each other and took a step from each other. Glancing to my left, I found Cody standing with his arms crossed, a flicker of hurt passing through his eyes.

Beside him, I saw Bailey groan as she massaged her temples. "Cody, this is seriously unneeded drama right now."

But Cody didn't hear her. Instead, he glared at me then at Zack. "Would it have hurt? To tell me that you were falling for our best friend?"

Zack refused to meet his brother's eyes. I glanced over to Baliey. "You told him?"

Bailey shook her head. "Seamus told him that you were going to the ball with Zack. After that, he figured it out for himself."

_"Would it?!"_ Cody enunciated furiously. He was staring down at Zack, not wavering one bit."Answer the damn question, Zack!"

"Yeah, maybe it would have!" Zack shouted. His eyes narrowed into slits. Taking a shaky breath, he said more quietly, "Yeah, maybe it would have."

Cody's arms dropped to his sides. He glared at Zack with a look I only seen him give Draco Malfoy. "Oh," he scoffed. "I see how it is."

And he stormed off from the dance floor with Zack running after him. Bailey came up to me, not saying a word and gave me a much needed hug.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Here's a cliffhanger for you guys! :D Don't fret, this is only part 1 out of 2. **_

_**Cody's hurt over this will be explained in the next chapter, I promise you. Until then, sayonara! :D**_


	25. The Yule Ball Disaster (Part 2)

**Chapter 22: The Yule Ball Disaster (Part 2)**

_Zack's POV_

I caught up to Cody at the entrance of the courtyard and grabbed his arm. "Cody, just what the hell is your problem?!"

Cody turned and faced me. "What's my problem?!" he shouted. Sarcasm was dripping from his tone as he added, "Oh, I would tell you, _dear brother._ But apparently, you don't trust me enough to tell me even your deepest secrets!"

"I kept my feelings a secret for a reason!" I screamed.

"Oh, so admitting the fact that you've been falling in love with Subha since last year demanded that you keep things a secret?!"

"Leave Subha out of this," I growled. "Part of my reasons have nothing to do with her."

"Everything you do has to do with her, you idiot!"

"What the hell do you know?! What I do and how I feel has nothing to do with you!"

"SHE'S LIKE A SISTER TO ME!" Cody pushed me back into the snow. "I'M WORRIED ABOUT THE FACT THAT AT A POINT IN OUR LIVES THAT YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE HER HEARTBROKEN!"

I got up and brushed the snow out from my robes. I felt as though my heart broke into pieces at the accusation. "After eleven years," my voice cracked with hurt, "_do you honestly think I would throw Subha out like that?! _Some brother you turned out to be."

"Better than you," Cody retorted.

The both of us were breathing heavily in the silence of the courtyard as ours words slowly started to sink in.

"And while you're at it," said Cody in a calmer but still angry tone, "mind telling me where you found a bloody Night Fury?!"

I froze. I glared at him in horror. "How did you find out about that?"

"You thought Hagrid wasn't watching you sneak into the forest every Friday since the beginning of the school year?"

"H-He told you?"

"He thought I knew what you were up to. After that, at midnight, I went through your Ring Journal." Cody scoffed. "Really. I can't believe in that one week during the summer, the main reason you were sneaking out was to help Erza Scarlet find a bloody pendant, which so happens to belong to Subha in the present, bond with a freaking Night Fury, who also happens to be hers-"

"Do you want to stand on top of the rooftop and tell the world what I did this summer?" I hissed. "I told you I kept secrets for a reason. And you're at fault just as you claim I am to be!" I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe that you've been spying on me!"

"Do you think that I wanted to?!"

_He's not even going deny it, is he?_ "Considering that you're mad at me and my feelings for Subha, then yeah!"

Cody balled his fists. "If you had told me, I wouldn't have! About Erza, Fairy Tail, Hiccup and Astrid, about everything!"

I stared at Cody. Something about his words seemed off.

"And besides, I've been watching the both of you," Cody continued. "Since last year, your face always lit up whenever she was around. At the same time, her eyes always turn lightning blue whenever she's near you. You honestly thought that I was that oblivious to the way you were acting around each other?"

"You...you..." I trailed off. A dozen memories popped into my head. Last year at Hogsmade, where Subha got mad at me for talking to Hannah Abott. The day of the Quidditch World Cup, where I was feeling awkward about sitting next to Subha because after that kiss, I didn't know what to make of our relationship. Even the memory of Erza making me confront my relationship with Subha came in mind. When he said that I suddenly realized what this was about. His eyes and the sudden sadness in his voice said everything.

"You're afraid." I straightened myself. The moment I said it I knew it was true. "You're afraid that you're going to become the third wheel."

Cody stayed silent, looking away and at the night sky. Everything suddenly made sense. He had been constantly snarky, angry and distant since the Quidditch world cup for a reason. For someone as clever as him and also who can kick my butt whenever he wanted to, he can sure as hell be an ever loving idiot. I punched him in the arm. Hard.

"OW!" Cody cried out. "Jeez! What was that for?!"

"That was for being an idiot!"

"Wait, what?"

I groaned. "You do realize that that's the last thing the both of us want? Subha was literally scolding me an hour ago because I was trying to hide from you the entire night."

Cody looked shocked as he rubbed his arm. The realization of the truth dawned onto his face. "R-really?"

I put my hands up in truce. "Yeah. I'll admit that I acted like an idiot tonight." I sighed in relief. I hoped this was the end of his fury. But I also meant what I said. Subha was right, as much as I hated to admit it. "So I hope this is the part where you accept that you acted like a jerk as well."

Cody chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Sorry about everything I said."

I patted him on the shoulder and my mind wandered off to Subha again. Then I thought what would be in store for the both of us the minute we saw her. Cody saw the deadpanned look on my face and started to mirror my expression.

"Bailey and Subha are going to kill us, aren't they?" Cody asked as though we were already signing our death warrants.

"You read my mind," I confirmed. "Let's get back to our funerals."

"Don't you mean our dates?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Does it really matter? We're going to die anyway."

Cody sighed. "Yeah, good point."

* * *

><p><em>Subha's POV<em>

I saw the twins come in with a guilty expression and looking solemn. I wanted to slap the both of them silly but judging by the looks on their faces, I decided I wasn't going to be that cruel.

Bailey, on the other hand...

"Cody Martin, you have got to be the most moronic person on the whole planet!" she smacked the back of his head. "I _told _you it was unwanted drama. Did you listen? _Nooooooooo_. You just had to interrupt-"

"Bailey." I held up a hand. Bailey stopped immediately, took a deep breath and collapsed onto a seat next to her. I then went up to them and pulled both of their ears.

"Owowowowowow," they both said in unison.

I sighed and massaged my temples with one hand at my hip. "Bailey has a point. The both of you honestly acted like...you know what, I'm not going to say it again. I'm too exhausted at this point. Why don't we just call it a night?"

"But-" Zack started to say.

"Subha-" interrupted Cody.

"No buts." I gave them a small smile. "We've been through a lot tonight. We can deal with this tomorrow."

Then I did something I thought I'd never do, out in the open. I gave a very stunned Zack a small peck on the cheek. Giving Cody a hug, I said, "It's fine. Just don't be a dick again, and everything will be fine."

I gave Cody a small harmless slap and walked off, all my thoughts on my bed now. I nearly reached the stairs when the heavens decided that I wasn't going to see that bed for another hour.

"He's using you!"

"How dare you! Besides, I can take care of myself!"

I turned around and internally groaned. Ron and Hermione were nearing the stairs, arguing. Knowing what this was about, I was this close to hexing that Knucklehead.

Those two continued to argue as Harry appeared on my right. He glanced at me and then his bickering best friends.

"I'm gonna guess you didn't have much of a good night either?" asked Harry.

I shrugged. "Everything was fine. At least until Zack and Cody got into an argument. At this point, I'm just exhausted." I faced him with a concerned expression. "What are those two arguing about now?"

"I think you know the answer."

I sighed in resignation. "Why can't we have a break for once?"

"Oh, it was worse when she came up to us with Krum."

"I can tell."

"Well, you know what the solution is then, don't you?!" I heard Hermione yell.

"Oh yeah?" Ron retorted. "What?"

"The next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask before someone else does!_ Do not_ ask someone as a last resort!"

Ron looked stunned and shocked. "Well-I-...you..." He stammered. He kept opening and closing his mouth to argue but nothing came out. Finally he looked in our direction. _Please don't pull us into this, please don't pull us into this..._

"Harry."

I sighed and patted Harry's shoulder. "Good luck, brother."

"Why me?" Harry muttered as Hermione turned around. Oh this was not going to end well.

"Where were you?!" Hermione said angrily.

"Well, I was-"

"Never mind! Off to bed, both of you!"

I couldn't see Harry's face very well but Hermione was on the verge of tears. Ron joined Harry and the two of them ran up the staircase. Halfway up, Ron said something that I couldn't hear to Harry when Hermione screamed, "Ron, you spoiled _everything!"_

The moron completely ignored her and continued to pull Harry up to the common room. Hermione collapsed down at the very last step. She took off her heels and started silently sobbing. I shuffled up to her and sat down beside her.

"Hey Granger," I said gently as I rubbed her shoulder. "Don't worry about Ron. You know he's always been a bit of an idiot."

Hermione glanced up at me with a very surprised look in her eyes. Well, what else could I say? Ask her if she was alright? That would have been the equivalent of freaking out that someone was injured but not even remotely doing anything to help and keep asking if they were okay. It was quite obvious that Hermione _wasn't_ alright.

She then turned her body in my direction and wiped her tears, smiling slightly. "You are definitely an interesting person, Subha. Bad night for you as well?"

I rolled my eyes as I let out a small chuckle. "First Harry asks me this, now you? But yes," I added with an exhale, "Zack and Cody were being idiots. Half of the night was actually enjoyable until Cody started a fight with Zack."

"Ah. I take it that it was the same reason Ron got mad?"

"Close, but no. Cody's case is...different, per say."

Hermione didn't pry, which is what I really liked about her. She automatically knew what was personal and what could be said. Either that, or we understood each other pretty quickly. Because of this, I always found it really easy to find a comfortable middle ground with her, especially this year in particular. But at the same time, I really wanted to cheer her up. I looked at the time and saw that we had about another three hours before the ball ended. That's when an lightbulb went off in my head.

"You...um...wanna head over to Fairy Tail?"

Hermione jumped and peered at me to see if I was joking. She had stopped crying, that was a good thing. Once she realized that I was serious, it was now replaced with a wide-eyed look with her jaw hanging open.

"Y-You're joking," Hermione stammered.

"Nope." I smiled widely at her. "Also, you can expect Natsu ranting about this for hours on end about how he wants to punch the life out of Ron cause you know the guild will have been watching this the entire time."

Hermione slowly started to smile back. "And then Erza will probably try to do the same thing with Zack."

I laughed as Hermione's smile suddenly disappeared. "You're going to have to tell Viktor though."

"Oh. Right." There was that problem.

As if on cue, I saw Krum walking out towards us with two glasses in hand.

"There you are," said Krum. "I vos vondering where you went."

"Oh!" Hermione stood up. "I, um..."

"Is it okay if I borrow Hermione for the rest of the night?" I intervened. The two of them glanced at me with Hermione's eyes saying _thank you._

Krum raised an eyebrow as he stared blankly at the both of us. "Is there something going on?"

"Yes, actually!" Hermione piped up. "She, uh, needs help with something at the library and I'm the only person that can help." We both quickly glanced at each other and then nodded at Krum.

_Shit, that __wasn't__ good enough._ However (and thank god, luckily) Krum just shrugged. "If she needs to help you, then go ahead. I had a great time with you, Hermy-ninny." He handed her the drink in his hand and marched off.

I faced Hermione. "One, Zack has a point. 'Hermy-ninny?' And two, is he always that stiff?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed. She punched me lightly in the arm. "Oh, shut up. I'll teach him later. Should we get going?"

I gestured to the entrance of the courtyard. "Ready when you are, Granger."

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: I may add a little more to this chapter but it depends on whether I have time or not. Or maybe I may leave it as is but while this is an progressing story that's not complete yet, it's still changing as I get through the book._**

**_With that said, I hope you enjoyed that and I can't wait to see you until the next update! :D_**


	26. The Second Task is Underway! (Literally)

**_A/N: I have a feeling that this book is going to have more than fifty chapters. T.T Oh well. It can't be helped. _**

**_On the other hand, this chapter is going to be one of those random chapters that's going to be a little long.__I'm__trying to avoid long ass chapters these days but in this case...I should be able to get the second task done within this chapter. I know that accidentally skipped Moody's first lesson but I actually want to get into fifth year ASAP so I guess that in my hurry, I forgot about it. So forgive me for that. But I'm actually thinking about adding a one shot that details that lesson in a one shot._**

**_In the meantime, enjoy the chapter! And do check out my one shots. I guarantee that you'll like at least one of them! :D_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23: The Second Task is Underway! (Literally)<strong>

Everyone woke up late the next morning. Everyone finally realized that with half of break over, we have to finish the immense amount of homework we got before it started. Meanwhile, Hermione and I slept in for as long as possible before Ginny used the bullhorn that I had with me on us. But the both of us were so exhausted, we didn't even make a move in surprise.

"Five more minutes," said Hermione as she pulled her blanket over her head.

"I know, I know," I groaned sleepily and pulled a pillow onto my head. "But what Granger said. Two more...two..." I started to snored off.

Well, what did she expect? Long story short, the minute we arrived at the guild, Natsu and Co. dragged us both out on a job. I know that they wanted to cheer the both of us up and yes, it did work in numerous ways, but it was close to midnight! I liked Mira and Lisanna's idea of helping Meena babysit Nashi but no can do. We both barely got back to the common room before anyone else did, having about a hundred billion heart attacks per minute while laughing madly in the process.

"Wake up, sleepy heads!" Ginny clapped her hands. "Subha, you know we promised to help Buttercup with their homework!"

"I thought it was Blossom," I whined as I fell on my back, waving my arms like a five year old would do. "Why can't I get some sleep?"

Ginny pressed the button on the bullhorn again, this time, making the both of us jump. "You idiots. It's quarter to ten and you guys still want to sleep. There's staying in bed and then there's avoiding life." She put her hands on her hips. "Other than Zack and Ron being idiots, what exactly happened to you guys?"

"It's exactly that," Hermione and I said in unison.

"But we're exhausted for our own reasons," I added. "I swear, my arms hurt so much from the amount of water and ice I had to use to freeze that bloody spirit."

Ginny eyebrows went up. "A _spirit?_ Okay, let me rephrase: What were you two doing last night?"

My eyes flew open. All previous exhaustion and sleepiness disappeared and was replaced with a fierce panic. _Crap. Crap, crap, crap. _It seemed like Hermione felt way because she was just as horror-struck as I was. I honestly needed to smack myself.

"Well-"

"What I mean by that was-"

Thankfully, heaven came in the form of Parvati Patil. For a solid minute and a half.

"Ginny!" she cried out. "Are those two-" Then glancing over to me, she said, "Oh good, the both of you are awake." Parvati's expression turned serious. "You guys need to see this. _Now."_

Hermione and I got out of bed, confused. The look on Parvati's face was one of confusion and horror. As she raced out of the room, the three of us exchanged glances.

"What was that about?" I asked them.

Ginny shrugged. "Let's go check it out."

We ran down the steps and saw a huge crowd gathered at the notice board. There was a lot of whispering and as we waded through the crowd, a hand appeared on my shoulder.

"Bubbles!" I turned to face the pigtailed blonde. Her hair had definitely grown out over the years. It was almost the same length as Blossom's at this point. "What's going on here?"

"It's not good, Subha," Bubbles said grimly. "Looks like either you or Zack angered..." She lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper. _"...her."_

"Oh, this isn't good," said Ginny.

"Wait, what do you mean by Zack?" I asked her. "I think he would have shown me if _she _was targeting - hang on, how did you-"

"Boomer and I beat the info out of Blossom and Brick. Did Zack not tell you about Princess attacking them at Jodha's castle?"

My eyebrows went up in shock. "N-No...he told me about finding the pendant but..."

Ginny and I both knew who Bubbles meant. And as we got to the front, we knew that we were automatically done for. There was a huge piece of parchment taped onto the board, covering the rest of the notices on the board, which read:

_You think you can hide your petty little school from me? Think again. I want that pendant back by the way and if you don't, remind yourselves that I have all of Daddy's resources at my fingertips and can buy that little house of a school for free._

_Toodles, P. M_

I had to read it twice to make sense of what I was seeing before my eyes. Princess knew where Hogwarts was. Oh my god. She fucking knew. She was just bidding her time. But how the hell did she get into the common room? And moreover, if she was trying to get the pendant, why didn't Zack tell me about her?!

"Her pendant?" Ginny scoffed. "As if that was her's to begin with."

"Pendant?" I heard people whispering among themselves. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Do you think-"

"It's impossible for anyone to get into the common rooms!"

"Are you mad?! Have you forgotten what happened during the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened?!"

"What if its a prank?"

"Things are not looking good," said Blossom, who appeared between me and Bubbles.

"Not here." I grabbed the four (yes, even Hermione) and pulled them to a quiet corner.

"It was entirely pointless..." Ginny trailed off. Her fists were clenched as her head hung in devastation. "...completely...pointless..."

"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked. "With Princess knowing where the school is..."

"Wait," said Ginny. "How do you know about..." She glanced at me as I stiffened. "Did you tell her?"

"No...she found out..." I answered while discreetly making a slicing gesture on my hand, slightly glaring at Hermione to keep her mouth shut. She didn't need to know about the spirit that we encountered last night before arriving at Fairy Tail. It had more secrets than I did and I wanted to have nothing to do with it.

Ginny rolled her eyes and I felt more guilty than ever about keeping secrets from her. But at this point, I either needed to tell her everything or nothing. There was no in between anymore.

"Never mind how I found out about Princess," Hermione said quickly. "The both of you need to work harder in hiding it from her view."

"But it takes up all of our energy!" I wailed. "Before Christmas break, we were literally dragging ourselves to classes. Remember when McGonagall sent me to the hospital wing when I fainted in Transfiguration?!"

"Hermione, she has a point," said Ginny. "With Princess knowing where Hogwarts is now, I don't think we're ready to keep hiding the entire castle with just our own magic. Ever since Subha started Hogwarts, we've been only able to put spells over one part of the castle. Wands are one thing, but when you think about the amount of magic needed from our own elemental powers...My point is that with just the both of us, it's not enough."

"And besides," said a scruffy voice, which turned out to be Brick, "Hiding the castle is the least of your guys' worries."

Blossom's eyebrows went up in pleasant surprise and actually seemed like she didn't mind his company this time. "What do you mean?"

"Well," said Brick thoughtfully, "if Morbucks already found the school and broke into the common room-"

"Brick, you know its impossible for Morbucks to break into the school itself! And the Fat Lady isn't dumb enough _or _drunk enough to let some bratty muggle in. She must have used some other way to get the note on that board."

_"Do you think I don't know that?!__"_ Brick retorted. "In case you didn't see that note on the bulletin board, she already found a way. And Blossom, you of all people know we can't tell anyone about this!" He crossed his arms. "Anyway, here's the thing: wouldn't it be better to increase the security of the common room?"

The entire group became silent. Ginny and I peeked at each other and smacked our foreheads. We seriously were daft enough to not think about that. Forget Princess finding the school. If she ever got into the common room, the results were going to be disastrous.

Blossom on the other hand, had her jaw hanging in mid-air. She was point blindly in multiple directions. "How - what-" she stammered, flabbergasted. "You - you actually said something intelligent."

Brick huffed. "Don't act like it's the first time."

"Yeah, but its so rare!"

"Blossom does have a point," Bubbles and Hermione said together with amazing poker faces.

Brick glared at us as his shoulders drooped. "I hate you all."

I had to stifle a giggle for Brick's sake. "So Hiiragizawa was right. Princess is not as simple minded as we thought. If she actually found a way in, there has to be a reason behind her wanting us to suffer. Anyway, Ginny, I think we have an idea of what to do now...right?"

Ginny sighed. "Subha, I swear to god that if this does not work-"

"You know we're going to be dealing with McGonagall sooner or later. We might as well get it over with this year."

She opened her mouth to argue but nothing came out. Finally, she just threw her arms up and pursued her lips. "Yeah, I supposed you're right. Now let's go pummel Zack and see what he knows."

"Oh yeah. Right." I cracked my knuckles as my eyes landed on Zack and Cody talking intensely. And it was one of the few times that I didn't see them arguing.

* * *

><p>The next one week of break passed by as we entered the slightly warmer month of January. It felt like a race as we were in the middle of 3rd term during the month of February before we knew it with the second task tomorrow in the morning.<p>

I decided to not pummel Zack for not telling me about Princess. That also played with the fact that Blossom later showed me her ring journal and what Zack had blocked out. In a sense, I guess I can see why. When Princess said his name when he himself hadn't said it, you tend to get freaked out. From the looks of it, he was suspicious about the fact that the note had almost nothing to do with Blossom, Brick and their siblings.

Yeah, as you can tell, I'm dead meat. In fact, I'm wondering how I survived this long.

With the second task around the corner, I've done nothing except worry about Harry. Apparently, he figured out the egg, cause he was surprisingly in the library with Ron and Hermione for hours on end.

"Please kill me," I moaned as my face met _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4_ that was lying open on the table in the library. It was ten minutes to eleven. "Gin, I beg of you."

"Well, I thought you were the one who usually got their homework done as fast as Hermione," said Ginny. She didn't even look up from her Charms homework.

I lifted my head and put my chin on the book. "When you have someone trying to kill you out of spite, our imminent deaths are more important than my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework right now."

Ginny stared at me blankly as her body slumped into the chair. "Oh, Subha, what am I going to do with you? You're sometimes as bad as Ron."

I huffed. "It would have been better to call me a five year old, Ginny."

Ginny's blank look changed into a weary one. She then closed her eyes and massaged her temples. "Is there really a difference?"

I stuck my tongue out at her. "You know what I mean. But the one thing that has been bothering me since break: What the _hell _does that note mean?"

"Um, that she's coming for your bloody pendant?"

"No!" I straightened myself and stretched my arms. "I mean, what she want from Zack? We know she has a grudge against him because of him finding the pendant. But I get the feeling that there's something else."

"Well, we can hypothesize that-

"I hope you're not slacking off on your homework, Patel," said a gruff voice.

The both of us jumped. I turned around to find Moody hovering over me. I felt that creepy fake eye zooming in on me as I tried not to bolt out of the library screaming my head off. I'm sorry, but I just got a unsettling feeling by just looking at that eye.

"N-No, sir," I stammered out. "N-Not slacking off at all..."

"Good," he grunted. "Because the both of you need constant vigilance! I'm sure you want to see Potter tomorrow during the second task, right?"

We both nodded vigorously.

Moody continued to stare deep into my soul. "You're lucky that I'm not going to turn you into a ferret, Patel," he said as he walked past us. "See you Monday."

As Moody disappeared, we both exhaled deeply. My heartbeat returned back to normal.

"I swear, every time Moody appears, it feels like a snake crawled up my back," I said as we gathered up our books. "I wonder if there's something more..."

"To you, its been like the biggest mystery of the year," said Ginny. "Then again, no Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has kept the position for more than a year. I honestly won't be surprised if something happened to Moody."

I slung my bag over my shoulder. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Do you think he overheard us talking?"

Ginny gripped the handle of her bag as she scrutinized the direction Moody marched off. She answered grimly, "For his sake and the school's, I seriously hope not."

* * *

><p>"Where the heck are Ron and Hermione?"<p>

Harry and I were walking down to the Black Lake for the second task. It was fifteen minutes before it was supposed to start but those two still haven't made an appearance yet.

"Weren't those two in the common room last night?" I asked him.

"No," said Harry. "They both got called down to McGonagall's office for some reason. I didn't even see Ron in the common room this morning."

"Oh. I was asking. I didn't see Hermione either."

Harry glanced at me in surprise. "Wait, really? I thought it was just Ron."

It was around that time when Neville joined us. "Hey you two," he greeted us. There was a green weed rolled up in his hand. "Harry, here's that gillyweed that I forgot to give you."

"Right." Harry took the plant from Neville's hands and clenched it. "Is it safe to use?"

"Um..." Neville scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I guess I should warn you that gillyweed has Herbologists have debated about the duration of the effects in fresh water versus salt-"

"You're telling me this now?! You're joking!"

I raised a finger. "Whoa wait. Gillyweed? But wasn't that a plant that..." I stared at the two of them blankly and then narrowed my eyes. "...Harry, what exactly did you find in that egg?"

"Subha..." Neville started to say but Harry stopped him with a hand. "The second task is supposed to be underwater," finished Harry.

I continued to stare at him with my eyebrows furrowed. "How did you-"

_"Come seek us where our voices sound," _Harry recited. _"We cannot sing above the ground. And while you're searching ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss. An hour long you'll have to look and to recover what we took, b__ut past an hour, the prospect's black; t__oo late, it's gone, it won't come back." _Harry sighed. "I found out by dunking the egg underwater."

Neville and I grew silent. I now realized why Ron and Hermione were missing. The Black Lake being the location for the second task suddenly made sense.

"Aren't there merpeople down there?" I finally asked.

Harry swiftly nodded and walked backwards. "Where are they?!"

"Harry, you seem tense," Neville said worriedly.

"Oh, do I?!" Harry responded sarcastically.

I pulled onto Harry's arm. He stopped and glanced at me as Neville went on ahead. "Subha? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." I shook my head and held on. "Harry, you need to calm down. Stress is the last thing you need right now. I'm legitimately worried for you at this point. This isn't about surviving the tournament anymore. I want you to be safe."

Harry let out a slight chuckle at my unwavering eyes. "Do you even realize how much you sound like Hermione right now?"

I shrugged. "Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"You're acting like as though it's my funeral, Subha."

"People have died in the past, Harry!" I retorted. "This isn't the first time your life has been in danger! And do realize that Sakura will have a field day if you get killed. She's already been worried sick about you in general this year."

Harry gulped as he saw my slightly furious face and laughed nervously. "Yeah. I guess."

I rolled my eyes. We stood there in silence as more people walked by. "Do you want me to walk you to the decks?"

Harry didn't answer but he didn't try to make me lose my grip. Instead he ruffled my hair and said, "Come on, sis. Let's get going."

I smiled and nodded as we walked on.

We arrived at the decks with the rest of the champions all decked out in swimsuits. As I joined Ginny at the stands, Dumbledore was explaining the rules of the task.

"The champions have one hour to do this task," Dumbledore continued. "In that one hour they have to save something that's precious to them."

_Something that's precious to them._..Oh Lucy and Gray are not going to like this. Especially Gray for that matter. For some reason, he's taken a liking to Harry almost as Juvia has with Ginny. _Yeesh, talk about similarities._

Harry put the gillyweed in his mouth. Moody was standing behind the competitors with his arms crossed as I felt a shiver going up through my spine. What was up with this guy? He was an Auror for gods sake and here he is, making me feel as though something bad is going on. I looked up into the cloudy sky as I realized that Fairy Tail was very well watching this through the Lacrima. _Maybe I'll ask Carla and-_

I came back to Earth once Dumbledore said, "In three, two, one!"

The signal canon went off. Harry was violently coughing as the other three already jumped into the water. The next thing I knew, he was pushed into the water...by none other than Moody. It was subtle, yes, but I could see the slight movement he made with his walking stick through my binoculars. I couldn't do anything other than stare in horror for the next forty seconds.

That's when I saw him jump out of the lake and do a flip in the air before jumping back in. The crowd went wild as my jaw hung in mid air.

"What the hell?!" I yelled.

"Holy shit," Zack and Cody said in unison.

_Hey, Gray, are you and the rest of the guild enjoying the show? _Of course they weren't. What was I thinking?

Every minute was nerve racking as we all waited for then to surface. Fifteen minutes into the hour, Dumbledore said, "The Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour was attacked by grindylows and unable to participate any further."

"One out, three to go," Ginny said silently.

It was thirty minutes into the hour when Cedric Diggory came up the water with Cho Chang. The two swam towards the decks as the people who were there helped them up. Another fifteen and a shark head came up. I kid you not, a _shark head,_ which about a second later, reverted to the familiar face of Viktor Krum, who came up with...Hermione. _Then that means that Harry is supposed to save Ron._ But if I was being honest, the fact that Hermione was the person Krum would miss the most was a bit surprising for me.

Fleur was sitting on the decks with a towel wrapped around her shoulders. Her face was constantly watching the lake.

"What's taking Harry so long?" Zack asked, worried. "The rest of the champions are all here."

Cody and I shared a look. "You don't think...?" said Cody.

I sighed. "Yep. It's possible."

And as the clock struck, Ron and a blonde young girl who resembled Fleur surfaced the water. Ron helped the girl up the decks as Fleur pulled her up with another towel in her hand.

"Harry, you bloody idiot," I muttered to myself. "Come up already."

And within two seconds after, up flew Harry, into the air and onto the deck, safe and sound.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: YAY I'm done with this chapter!_**

**_There's a reason why I keep wanting to do the tasks within a chapter. Because the story is being writing from Subha's POV, I have a chance to portray the tournament from a spectator's eyes, and Subha is a spectator, watching along with the rest of the students. But I also have to add her story as well as her dilemma. _**

**_With that said, you already know Subha's wariness about "Moody" is gonna come true. XD Note, she won't find out the same day and time that Harry does though. She's actually going to be dealing with something else around that time. But seriously, that's going to be extremely cliched to begin with. :/ _**

**_Also, I'm incredibly busy, as I may have said earlier. So I won't been on for a while. Until then, sayonara and can't wait to start writing again! :D_**


	27. A Dead Crouch

_**A/N: I think I mentioned before that I was going to take the movie route with some of the scenes in this fanfic. I still stand by that because I really want to get into fifth year. (Or do a time skip into sixth. I don't know, that part is still being decided. XD) I know that there's going to be a lot of detail inbetween if I go by the books but there's the fact that this is Subha's story and her involvement is more or less "little" to Harry's part of the plot, if you know what I mean by that. She's the observer of Harry's struggles all the while having her own to deal with.**_

_**I feel like that should be really obvious, but I hope I made that clear enough.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24: A Dead Crouch<strong>

"Harry, you have got to be one of the craziest people in the entire world," I said to Harry as we were walking in the Forbidden Forest with Ron, Hermione and Hagrid.

My brother sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that you knew about this?"

I crossed my arms and pursed my lips. "Well, the song wasn't that hard to figure out, Harry."

Harry gave me a blank expression and then finally said, "I know I've said this a million times, but you're honestly starting to sound like Hermione."

"Says the person who got second place in the Tournament due to _moral fiber,_" I retorted teasingly.

"Seriously though, mate," said Ron. "You should've known that even if the time limit was up, they wouldn't have left us down there."

I shrugged. "I don't know about it though. I would be saying the same thing if the results took another direction, but this helped him have more of a chance to win the bloody tournament."

"Harry's right. You _are_ starting to sound a lot like Hermione."

"How rude," Hemione remarked. "This is coming from the guy who was stuck underwater for an hour."

"So were you!"

"Knock it off, Knucklehead." I brought my fist down onto Ron's head. "She does have a point."

Harry and Ron shared a look. "Yeah, you two have been spending way too much time with each other," they both said in unison.

I glanced over to Hermione as she rolled her eyes and shrugged. We both knew that if Ron found out about the portal to Fairy Tail, we were screwed. But at the same time, I guess I can see what they meant. We _have_ been spending quite a bit of time with each other, even outside of Fairy Tail. Maybe she was rubbing off on me.

"So, what now? Do we have any clue as to what the third task is gonna be?" I quipped.

"For now, not a single clue," Harry answered. "But the task is on June 24th, and the champions will know in May, I guess."

"Well, let's forget all of that for a few minutes, eh?" Hagrid's gruff voice popped in. "Speaking of which, time has been going by way too fast. I remember the first time I met all of you, four years ago. Biggest bunch of misfits I've seen tha' year. And now..." he trailed off as he marched on.

"We're still a bunch of misfits," Ron finished off with a laugh.

"Yeah, well...its give an' take. Here's to the real star: Harry Potter, soon to be, the youngest...Triwizard Champion there has ever been!" Hagrid guffawed as he, Ron and Hermione started singing the school theme.

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogty Hogwarts, teach us something please_," they sang at the top of their lungs. _"Whether we may be young or old..."_

"You know, I'm never going to get tired of that song," I said, putting my arms at the back of my head.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, it feels right at home, doesn't it?"

"It's not a bad thing to wake up to, to be honest. How are your wounds doing?"

"Not as bad as it was in the morning." He rubbed the red spots on his neck gently. His face then scrunched up in confusion and glanced around.

"Harry? Are...you okay?"

"I'm fine," Harry said a little too quickly.

I eyed him suspiciously. Something was up. "Okay...I'l be with Hermione and Ron if you need anything."

Harry nodded and swiftly started walking to the other side of the forest as I apprehensively headed towards the other three.

"Where's Harry going?" Ron asked.

I shrugged. "Have no bloody idea." Pulling on Hermione's jacket sleeve, I signaled her to pull back.

Hermione nodded and walked slower. "What's going on?"

I started to fiddle with my fingers. "I have been thinking...you think that spirit will appear again?"

"I don't know," Hermione whispered. "What do you think?"

We continued to walk at a slower pace. "I think...that it may have something to do with how my parents died. Hear me out," I said to Hermione's slack-jawed face. "Remember when it said _'you'll go exactly the same way your mother went?'_ That means that she knows something."

"But what little does that mean?! Nan and Daph seem to know but why do I get the feeling that they aren't telling you everything?"

"Hermione, when one of my _own best friends_ knows more about my family tree than even I do, who says that I'll ever get details by just asking?"

"Considering Harry's predicament, I can't say too much about that."

I sighed. "Good point. Especially when I'm technically related to Natsu."

Hermione glanced over to Ron's turned back. "Ron is never going to let you hear the end of that tidbit once he finds out."

I waved my fist as I grumbled, "I'll rue that very day."

"Find out 'bout what?" Ron said suspiciously.

"Nothing," we said quickly.

"You two have been very secretive since the World Cup. What the bloody hell is going on between you two?"

I scowled. "Honestly, Knucklehead, can't a couple of girls talk alone without looking suspicious?"

"You and Hermione aren't just a couple of girls, Twit."

"Aww, I'm glad you feel that way," I said with saccharine filling the tone of my voice.

"Can't you just get along with each other?" Hermione moaned.

Ron simply turned around to stare at me as we burst out laughing. "Not in a million years, Granger," Ron and I chorused.

"Hermione's right, ya' know," said Hagrid. "There is going to be a situation where you both have to work together."

My mind jolted back to a summer two years before Hogwarts, where I dragged Ginny and Ron to Italy to visit my adoptive grandfather Antonio Blake, and the events that transpired that summer. I huffed. "Please. I think we're mature enough to do that under emergencies."

"Well, either way. I have a bit of a surprise for class on Monday! I think you're all really gonna like it!"

I gave Hermione an raised eyebrow, to which she shook her head. "I'm just as scared as you are."

"Where's Harry, by the way?" asked Ron.

And as if on cue, Harry came running towards us breathing heavily. "Guys, we have a problem."

We all gave him a confused expression, which ultimately switched to horrified when he uttered the next few words: "I saw a body down a few steps back. It's Crouch and long story short, he's dead."

"Crouch is dead?!" Ginny cried out as I told her what happened at the forest. We were all back in the common room with the exception of Harry, who had gone down to Dumbledore's office.

"Yup. And get this, when we went and checked, he was still there. But as we all went to get help...well, by the time we got back to his body, it was missing."

"Are you trying to fool me?"

"Gin, why would I joke about something as serious as this?!"

Ginny covered her mouth. "A high-ranking ministry official was murdered. On _school grounds_. Subha, do you even realize what this means?!"

"Oh god, I don't even want to think about it."

"You think they're going to cancel the tournament?"

I sighed and crossed my arms. "No. The final task is not until June, and the tournament is in way too deep to be canceled. It's not like one of the judges were taken out or anything."

"Hmm. Good point. Who do you think killed him?" asked Ginny.

"Dunno. Princess?"

"Why would she? It's not like she has a motive against him. The only people she has a grudge against in this school are the Girls and us."

"And Zack."

"Hang on, what does Zack-"

"More on that later. But right now, as you said, Princess can't be on our list of suspects...for once."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Okay. Who else?"

"I'm gonna say Moody."

"Too easy."

"Oh come on," I whined. "He's easily the most suspicious person this year!"

"Which makes it all the more simpler to put all of the blame on him."

I pouted. "Well then.

Ginny yawned. "Well, I'm going to bed. I had enough madness for one day."

"Don't you mean for the years to come?" I said as I stood up.

"Is there a difference?" Ginny scoffed.

"Fair enough," I muttered as I got into bed.

"By the way," said Ginny, "When are you going to tell Zack?"

"About what?"

The ginger crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow suggestively. She leaned against the doorway. "Don't pretend like you don't know, Subha."

Suddenly realizing what she meant, I quickly ducked under the cover of my sheets and blushed furiously. I started playing with the ruby pendant around my neck and smiled as I said, "...Good night, Gin."

"Subha...honestly, you-" I heard Ginny sigh with a laugh. She then repeated it back as I heard her shuffle over to her bed.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Yeah, you can beat me up later. XD This is super late, after all.**_

_**Oh the other hand, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you guys had a good one! :D**_

_**Don't forget to comment and/or vote!**_


	28. Chapter 25: The Premonition

**Chapter 25: The Premonition**

"Hey, Subha, are you finished with your breakfast?"

Hermione was standing over me while I was feasting over my precious bacon. It had been a few weeks since the second task as well as Crouch's death. Word got around the school like the black plague and with the third task in June, things were looking as fishy as ever.

"Almost," I replied with my mouth half full. "What's up?"

"We need to head over to the guild. Like now."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do they want this time?"

"I honestly don't know." She held out a red envelope with the Fairy Tail guild mark. "They said it was urgent. I guess we better head over there."

I slouched, not wanting to get up. "Hnngh."

"Come on, Patel. Really?"

I sighed. "I was looking forward to finishing McGonagall's essay today," I whined. "And plus, exams are in a few weeks. You of all people know this."

"I know that!" Hermione retorted. "But..." She started to fidget with her fingers nervously. "Well, I mean, what's an hour or two? Not like we're missing anything..."

I was starting to grow suspicious. Hermione wasn't usually like this. She wasn't this fidgety and she certainly didn't like to turn back on studying for exams. I turned my back to my unfinished breakfast and faced her. "Alright, spill. What's your real reason for wanting to go right now?"

"Well..." Hermione trailed off. "I wanted to ask Carla something."

I stared at her in shock. Carla was short for Charlotte, who was Wendy Marvell's Exceed, similarly like how Happy was to Natsu. I was staring to get a feeling of what she wanted to ask her. "Granger, what are you up to?"

Hermione sighed and sat down on my right. "How bad was I?"

"Surprisingly enough, not that bad. You gave yourself away with the fidgeting, though."

"Oh. But we still need to head over there. Mira said that there's a small surprise for us."

As Hermione leaned back, I said, "I know you're worried about Harry, but you know what Carla said. Her glances into the future are sporadic at times. Even if she has more of a control on it-"

"I know, I know. But if I'm being honest, I believe her far more than I would in our Divination professor."

I chuckled. "Typical Hermione."

She shot me a look. "You're one to talk."

"Oh ha ha. Shall we get going? I have about two to three hours to spare before Ginny finds me gone."

"I wonder what they have in store for us," Hermione mused as we walked out into the sunny weather and to the Forbidden Forest. "I sincerely hope it's not a wardrobe change like last time, no thanks to Cana."

"Please," I scoffed. "You have yet to meet London Tipton. When she and Daph were collaborating on a design three years ago, I was the _unfortunate_ mannequin that happened to be there. And worse, with Zack and Cody visiting their mum back in America, it was Ginny and Ron who had to rescue me via Errol. Cana can't be worse than her."

"Do I even want to know how she reacted to Errol?"

"It was funny as hell but let's just say no and mention that Daphne grounded me."

"...you certainly have a lot of interesting experiences, Subha."

I sighed we reached the portal. I rubbed Nikki's head, who purred in content. "That, I definitely do."

"I'm honestly shocked that Hagrid doesn't know about Nicolette though," Hermione said as she knelt down and held out her hand as Nikki put her snout into it. "I mean, she's a bloody Night Fury, for Merlin's sake."

"Oh, he knows."

Hermione jumped and took her hand off Nikki in shock, who gave her an annoyed look. "Say what now?"

I rubbed the back of my head, laughing nervously, " Ha ha. Yeah...um, he accidentally found Zack playing around with her two days after Zack found out that she followed him here."

"Oh wow."

"Yup."

"We should get going."

"Yup."

And into the portal we went.

* * *

><p><em>"You are not making us wear a bloody bikini!"<em>

Hermione and I were staring at Cana Alberona in complete shock with our jaws on the floor, as the brown eyed voluptuous brunette was holding two bikinis in front of us. One was blue and strapless and the other was a green cross-neck that would have probably made Mrs. Weasley faint in horror.

"And there goes the neighborhood," said Meena with her head in her hands. "Note to self: try to save the two before Cana gets her hands on any type of clothing."

"You think that Cana would've learned her lesson after Hermione and Subha hid all of her alcohol as revenge for making them participate in a hour long fashion show," Lucy commented dryly.

"Some things never change," said Lissana Strauss. The white haired younger sister of Mira and Elfman gave us a look of pity, all the while adding, "Speaking of which though, where did they hide them?"

"Hagrid's hut," replied Juvia and Mira.

Meanwhile, Cana pouted at us. "Aww, but I picked these out specifically for you two!"

"Absolutely not!" Hermione cried out. "My parents will murder me!"

"But they don't even know about the open portal," said Gajeel Refox. The spiky and black-haired Iron Dragon Slayer started munching on a piece of iron as he added in a gruff voice, "Technically it would be impossible. Gi hi hi."

Hermione gave Gajeel a murderous glare. "And your point?!"

Gajeel shrunk back from Hermione, sweating nervously. "Well, would you look at the time?"

He ran over to the corner of the guild, where Levy was with Jet and Droy, as though his life depended on it.

"Hermione, I think Harry is more likely to murder us than our families," I said grimly, examining the blue bikini. "But I still agree. I'm all for going to Ryuuzetsu Land with you guys but, can we _please, for the love of God,_ pick out a less revealing swimsuit?!"

"Guys, you really can't talk Cana out of this," said Mizu. Her expression turned bleak as she added, "Trust me, I've tried."

"Why do I get the feeling that we're doomed?" asked Hermione.

"Because we're being made to put on revealing swimsuits?" I replied.

"Hmm. Yeah, that must be it."

Perhaps I should explain the situation Hermione and I were stuck in. Long story short, the surprise Mira mentioned the guild had in store was to take us to an amusement park. The only problem...well, you get the picture.

"I seriously wish Hiccup and Astrid were here right now," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but you heard Mizu," I grumbled. No one can talk Cana out of something if her mind is set on it."

Meanwhile, Natsu was sitting down with a surly expression on his face. Erza was massaging her temples, while Wendy and Carla were seemingly trying to comfort him.

"Natsu, it's only part of teenage life." Erza was talking to Natsu similarly to how a mother would talk to her child, but it was increasingly obvious that she was getting ticked off. "Meena has to grow up at some point."

"I don't care," Natsu said shortly. "She's too young to fall in love."

"Don't be silly," said Carla. The white Exceed, who was in her human form, crossed her arms in a strict manner.

"She's fourteen now, Natsu," said Wendy. "It would honestly be a little stupid if you think that she's not going to start dating at some point in her life."

Hermione and I shared a look of confusion as we watched Natsu grumbled about Meena's apparent love life.

"Forget about Dad," Meena groaned. She put her hands on her hips in despair. "Ever since he found me talking to a guy me and Mizu knew from our last job, he now has almost everyone convinced that I have a boyfriend. Oh, and he also grounded me for a week."

"Oh brother," Hermione said with her eyebrows furrowed.

"He's starting to remind me of Ron," I said gloomily. When Hermione gave me a horror-struck expression, I added, "It's...bit of a long story."

"Again, do I even _want_ to know?"

With wide eyes, I shook my head, mouthing, "no".

Hermione sighed as she glared at the cross neck bikini in her hands. "This is going to be a long afternoon."

* * *

><p>Ryuuzetsu Land was colossal.<p>

I mean seriously, how can you fit a beach into a building? It was like going to your local Bahamas-in-a-building park. There was a huge slide that surrounded the park and palm trees here and there for decorations.

However, that wasn't enough to distract Hermione and me from the fact that we were wearing Cana's choice of swimsuits.

"To be fairly honest," Lucy started to say, "You two do look kinda cute in those bikinis."

"Lucy, please don't encourage Cana," said Hermione. She had gotten a huge towel at the entrance of the park and had immediately covered herself. Me on the other hand, had little to no problem but still had my arms crossed, blushing furiously.

"Yeah, its only going to make things worse," I added.

"I heard that," Cana sang. As she stretched her arms, she added, "If you guys want to talk to Carla, she's over by one of the pools with Wendy and Sheria."

"Thanks for being helpful for once, Cana," said Hermione. She then took my arm and started dragging me towards where Wendy and Carla were. But before we could get to them, an unfortunate obstacle blocked our way. A familiar spiky, brownish haired man appeared in front us with a glass of orange juice.

"Hibiki?!" I screamed.

"Oh no," said Hermione.

"I'm assuming that you two are here with Fairy Tail?" Hibiki Lates gave what I think was a charming smile. "I'd be happy to show you guys around."

Before either Hermione or I could open our mouths, a much deeper and dare I say it, sensual voice came out from behind me. "MEEEEEEN."

_Oh dear._

"Should we turn around?" Hermione hissed.

"And risk looking at Ichiya's face?" I replied. "Uh, nuh-uh."

But we both turned around anyway, and saw the stout, orange-haired, significantly huge rectangular faced Ichiya Kotobuki.

"Can we please run now?" I pleaded Hermione.

Before things could get out of hand, shadows appeared out of nowhere. I mean, literally nowhere. The two members from the Blue Pegasus guild flew into the waterfall next to the huge slide.

"Shadows..." I looked around to find a man with messy black hair in his swimsuit with his arms crossed. My jaw dropped to the ground. "Rouge?!"

"So, did Fairy Tail drag you guys here?" Rouge Cheney asked. He then raised a eyebrow at Hermione in confusion. "And...isn't it going to be hard to move around in that towel?"

"I don't care," Hermione said flatly.

"Hermione, he has a point," I added with my arms crossed. "You're going to trip on that towel about a million times before we reach Carla."

Hermione grumbled incoherently as she unwrapped the towel from her body and threw it onto a nearby chair. She then proceeded to glare at me with a grumpy expression. Her face then lit up as her eyes darted over to the huge slide that we were standing under. Taking note of her expression, Rouge said, "That's called the 'Love-Love Slide'."

"Wait." I stopped him with a hand and started snickering. "The Love-Love Slide?!" If I'm being honest right now, the name of the ride cracked me up more than anything.

Rouge cleared his throat. "Anyway, unless you two are a couple, I highly suggest-" Whatever he was going to say faded as he glanced over with a wary expression at Hermione.

But even then I knew something else was going on in Hermione's brain. That glimmer in her eye was something that I often tried to avoid, especially this year. But as usual, I failed.

"Grab Hibiki and Cana," Hermione said deviously. And to make her look like more of a James Bond villain rather than my brother's best friend, she rubbed her hands together in a subtle fashion. "I have a plan."

I pointed at Carla and Wendy by the pools. "But...didn't you..."

"We'll see them later. Go get the two idiots."

* * *

><p>"Why do I have to go with him?!"<p>

Hermione and I were on top of the ride with Cana and Hibiki.

You can tell what Hermione had in store as far as revenge went.

"You're the one who put us in these bloody swimsuits!" smirked Hermione. "You can pay the price of going down the slide with Hibiki, or you can tap dance in front of the entire guild."

"Take your pick," I shrugged.

"Aww..." whined Cana. "And all because I made you wear bikinis..."

"You know Cana...you probably should have seen this coming," said Gray, who was there with Juvia and Lyon Vastia, who had spiky white hair, slanted eyes, and was a Ice-Make wizard like Gray. Why he was up there with us, none of us had a clue.

I gave Hermione a high five. "I have to admit, Granger. Not a bad plan."

"Cana, you probably should have thought this over when you made the two wear bikinis," Juvia said in a patronizing voice. "Have you honestly forgotten the alcohol incident?"

"What alcohol incident?" questioned Lyon.

"Nothing," everyone said in sync.

"Oh, come on! Now I really want to know."

While they argued, I felt a small breeze in my hair. I then turned her head to face Gray, Juvia and Lyon as I saw them moving away from me. Glancing back at Hermione, I saw that she wasn't moving at all, though strands of her bushy hair were floating in the air as well. "Hey, is it me or does it feel like we're moving sideways?"

Gray did a double take to his left and suddenly turned pale. "Cana, what the hell are you doing?"

The wind stopped flowing. Hermione and I slowly both looked down and saw that the were standing on thin ice...literally. Wide eyed, we both stared at each other and put the puzzle pieces together as Cana slowly revealed the card that was apparently behind her back. Realizing what she was about to do, we scoffed murderously, _"Oh, you wouldn't dare."_

Cana waved her hand as she sang: "Have fun!"

She made a swiping motion with the card in her hand as the ice beneath me and Hermione disappeared. Our balance fell as we landed on the slide.

_"Cana Alberona, we're going to murder you!"_ we roared at the top of their lungs as we went shrieking down the slide holding each other.

"That's it!" Hermione shrieked. "We're hiding all of her alcohol!"

"Ya know, it would have been more prudent to wait before you even came with this bloody idea!" I retorted.

Hermione gave me an annoyed look. "I swear to Merlin, you and Ron are so bloody-" she had stopped mid sentence and looked behind me. Then she started giggling madly.

I managed to turn my head...to see Gray and Lyon stuck in the exact same situation as we were.

"Gray, Lyon, what the hell?!" I shouted.

"Why you, of all people?!" screamed Gray as he added, "THIS IS COMPLETELY ACCIDENTAL!"

"You're telling me, Gray!" Lyon complained angrily.

"Not again!" Gray's voice carried as he and Lyon went down the slide faster than Subha and Hermione did.

"I feel so sorry for Gray and Lyon," I said apologetically as my laughing started to subside. I then stopped completely when we saw Natsu fly into the heart-shaped entrance of the ride.

"Oh no," Hermione said ominously. "Why do I feel like this has happened before?"

"With Fairy Tail, Hermione," I replied before we both ducked our heads as the structure passed us with a motion sick Natsu in tow, "I think it already did."

"Natsu!" Lucy's voice rang out loud enough for everyone on the slide to hear, "You're destroying the place again!"

"Wait Luce, has this happened before?!" I heard Meena cry out.

"Dad, are you fucking serious?!" Mizu's voice screamed.

"And I was right," muttered Hermione.

Then an high-pitched voice said, "Natsu...why?"

We looked up, and saw Happy and Carla flying (did I mention that they had wings?), who were trying to rescue Natsu from the moving object. If I'm being honest, I'd thought I would never see the day where Natsu Dragneel, the most famous Fire Dragon Slayer in history, got motion sickness. I also thought that I would never see the day where Happy would try to rescue him. Granted, I knew that most (if not all) Dragon Slayers got motion sickness but it certainly gave the situation a lot more surprises.

"This ride is getting out of control!" Hermione cried out, bringing me back to the situation at hand.

I frowned. "Well, who gave you that clue, Sherlock?!" I said sarcastically as I pointed to Natsu, who was still on the heart shaped structure.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Hermione pointed at something behind me. "LOOK!"

I had to wrench my gaze from Natsu and saw what Hermione meant. "Oh my god, poor Wendy..."

I saw Cana and Wendy, Lucy and Levy, Erza and Mirajane and Hibiki and Juvia somehow getting caught up in the chaos that was going on the slide. They were all paired up with one another, making this slide full of shocked screams, shrieks and all the more, topping it off with, _"not again!"_ and "_Natsu, you motion sick idiot!"_

"WENDY!" Carla shouted. "Hang on in there! Cana, don't you dare throw her off the slide!"

"You honestly think that I'm stupid enough to do that?!" Cana shouted back irritably.

"Please save me," I heard Natsu moan loudly.

"Natsu...I'm sorta here to rescue you..." Happy said in a monotone voice.

"SORTA?!" Natsu was turning into a mix of blue and purple. Happy went and quickly got Natsu out of the contraption. Natsu went back to normal within minutes and saw the predicament. "Sorry every-wait..._Gray, this is all your fault!"_

"Says the guy who dislodged the entrance to the slide and get motion sickness while riding it," said Hermione.

"Yep, this has definitely happened before," I muttered to her. Glaring back at Natsu, I cried out, "Natsu, how the hell is this Gray's fault to begin with?!"

As I shouted that, I realized that we were getting near the end of the slide faster than ever. The minute we reached the end, we went flying off the end and ended up screaming straight into the water. I quickly managed to fashion an air bubble for us before we both made a cannonball. Because of that, we were able to come up much more quickly.

"My hair..." Hermione croaked when we came out of the water. While I was completely dry due to my elemental powers, Hermione was completely soaked from top to bottom. Her normally bushy hair was made straight due to the density of the water. It was so ironic that I started laughing right after handing Hermione a towel.

"Oh, shut up, Patel," whimpered Hermione. She picked up a clump of her hair and sighed in dismay. "What are we going to tell the others back at Hogwarts if they see us like this?"

I stopped laughing. "Yeah, there's that problem," I mumbled. I imagined a scenario where Harry, Ron and Ginny went crazy with questions about why the hell we were soaking wet. I thought about telling them what really happened and then crossed the idea out of my mind as it would take more than a day to explain how we met Fairy Tail to being with. Plus, despite Ginny being my best friend, I have a healthy dose of fear and respect for her, as she can fry my arse in a millisecond without even trying.

"We'll just tell them that you fell into the Black Lake," I suggested.

"Wait, aren't Harry and Ron by the-" Hermione stopped mid sentence and looking behind me, she said in a exasperated voice, "_oh, you have to be joking."_

Feeling a slight chill, I turned around to see where it was coming from. What I spotted was Natsu, Gray and Lyon having a three way fight about who started the chaos to begin with, going all around the park with fire and ice.

"Natsu, Gray, Lyon," I trailed off. "...why are you guys so bloody destructive?!"

Our jaws dropped as we both gawked at the destruction of the ride...and the entire park.

Once we got everyone to safety, we were all standing by the only bar that wasn't destroyed in the chaos. Laxus Dreyer, Master Makarov's grandson, was a muscular buffy guy with spiky yellow hair who came up to us carrying two people. The two of them were beat up so brutally, the only thing recognizable about the two victims was their salmon and black hair.

"Hey Gramps," he said in what I thought was a permanent scowl, "I made it so that they won't be able to get away."

He held up two people with no effort. It wasn't until I got a closer look did I realize that the two people were Natsu and Gray.

"Oh dear god, Laxus..." said Hermione as she peered at them, "I know Natsu and Gray destroyed half the park but...come on, you didn't have to be brutal."

My jaw dropped. The slide getting destroyed was one thing. But everyone got caught up in the chaos and even worse due to Natsu, Gray and Lyon acting like idiots, got the entire park destroyed. "Seriously, Granger?!"

Hermione brought her finger to her lips and shushed me. I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.

"To be honest, Dad," said Meena with a sigh. She was sitting on a chair with Nashi on her lap. "You kinda had it coming."

"By the way," asked Nashi. "Just what in the world made Dad hit the entrance of that slide?!"

Meena and Lucy both shared a weary look.

"Should we tell her?" Meena asked.

"Well, Subha and Hermione are here so might as well," Lucy said in resignation.

The gears in my mind came crashing down. "Um-er-say what now?"

"Yeah," Carla replied. "He saw you two at the top with Cana and Hibiki. I honestly don't know what was going on in his head but-"

"-He started running and slipped on soap," Happy cut in. "From there on out it was Armageddon."

"Also, why do I get the feeling," Mizu added, "that this is not the first time Dad and Lyon have gone on that slide on pure acc-"

"WAHHHHHHHH!"

Everybody in the area jump. We turned around to see Master Makarov sobbing like a baby.

"Master, what's wrong?!" asked a shocked Erza.

"Just take a look at how much the guild has to pay for the damage!" sobbed Master Makarov as he handed Erza a a long piece of paper. Her eyes bulged as soon as she saw what was on it.

"Half the park, you say?" she said, murderously soft. She then threw the bill towards Master Makarov, seething with anger._ "MORE LIKE THE ENTIRE PARK AGAIN!"_

She faced Natsu and Gray, clenching her fists. As her facial expressions grew more satanic by the minute, she yelled at the top of her lungs, "_NATSU! GRAY! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR EVER LOVING MINDS?!"_

_"WE'RE SORRY ERZA!" _Natsu and Gray wailed.

_"SORRY MY ASS! I'M GONNA WHOOP YOU BOTH!"_

Hermione started rubbing her temples. "Honestly, all we wanted to do today was talk to Carla! How did we even get wrapped up into all of this?!"

"Granger, you knew this was bound to happen," I said to her. "And besides, you've been through far worse!"

Hermione glared at me as though I was an asylum patient. Gesturing madly at the destruction of the entire park, she cried out, "Not as barmy as this!"

_Fair point,_ I thought to myself.

"Well, Lucy and Wendy did tell me about you two wanting to talk to me," said Carla, crossing her arms. "I think I have a feeling on what that is."

When Hermione and I shared a raised eyebrow, Carla gave us a grim look, almost as though she didn't want to look at us. "Look...I don't know how to put this lightly. I looked into Harry's future before you guys came through the portal, and the results considering the third task is going to be a major turning point for the next few years to come."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Hermione. Her smile was long gone and her lips had formed an extremely worried frown.

"I can't tell you guys," Carla said gently, much to my dismay. "What I may see may not even be true. At this point, from what I have seen...I'm really hoping that it won't be." She then finally glanced up at us pleadingly. "Please look after yourselves...please?"

"Hermione, Subha." Wendy appeared at Carla's right and gave us a small smile. "Please take Carla's advice seriously. What she was wasn't exactly pleasant."

I was now starting to get increasingly suspicious about the third task. And as Hermione walked away with a grim look, the future didn't exactly seem bright...for any of us for that matter.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: I'm really sorry that this is long as it is. Also, if you have read my one shots you probably have realized that the chapter is very similar to one of them. Tbh, I have been wanting to rewrite one of them for a while now and this chapter kind of gave me a chance to do that. So with that said, I really hope you enjoyed it._**

**_Don't__ forget to comment and/or vote!_**


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